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TPR's Middle America and IntimidaTOUR 2010 Trips!


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Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm not a huge B&M hyper fan. It's a great ride, and probably going to fight Afterburner to be many people's favorite ride in the park. It's exactly what the park needed and will be a signature attraction for years to come. But it won't break my top 20. I had a lot of fun on it, and had a great time touring the ride. Very excited to feature it on an upcoming Roller Coasters in the RAW DVD as I think it's a ride that everyone does need to ride, especially if you're a B&M fan.

 

--Robb "Hope that gives everyone an idea of my thoughts about it!" Alvey

With that said, I'm gonna guess you like the ejector airtime on Intamin coasters like Goliath, S:ROS and Expedition GeForce more.

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I am glad you did the photo report from the jurrasic boat ride. You just saved me $$.

 

You have no idea how wrong you are... Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride is one of the coolest home-built rides out there, and the quality for such is pretty incredible. Plus, no photos or video can do justice for the scariest, funniest, most bizarre dark ride I've ever been on. The ending alone was worth every cent.

 

Adam, we're you with us when we did Jurassic Boat Ride last year? I took a video of the whole ride.

 

Ah the memories, the terrifying taxi trip to Gatlinburg with the serial killer driver who has been abducted by aliens and sees ghosts. Then the Haunted Attraction marathon in Gatlinburg.

 

Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are so cheesy but so much fun, I loved checking out all that stuff last. It's a shame it was too late at night for the alpine slide when we were there.

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Great reports, thanks for keeping them coming! Definitely wish there was time to add this trip on. It looks fantastic! Love the walk back of Tennessee Tornado! Such a fun ride in a great park.

 

What was the record for cinnamon bread loafs consumed by one person this year?

 

Enjoy the rest of the trip!

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Then again, Tyler singing "Poker Face" to a room full of rednecks on karaoke night sort of made up for it.
^OMG! Please tell me somebody has video of that!

Video does indeed exist. I'll see if I can pull some strings.

 

Critically speaking though, I feel his rendition of the Bloodhound Gang's "The Bad Touch" was the superior performance of the evening.

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Today TPR had an AMAZING behind the scenes tour at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

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TPR has arrived at Busch Gardens Williamsburg! Keep posted for lots of backstage photos!

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Today is Tyler as Robby's 21st birthday. Here is what they look like BEFORE mass quantities of alcohol.

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ERT on Apollo's Chariot!

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Three trains + 60 people = LOTS of rides during ERT!

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Time for Curse of DarKastle backstage tour.

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First stop - TPR visits the rides maintenance bay.

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Here is DarKastle's ride vehicle - we got to see the complete program while in the maintenance bay!

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Here is the stuff that makes the car bounce!

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TPR was brought in to walk the track.

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They played some of the show scenes with the lights on so we could see what it looked like.

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Some things are not always as they seem.

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These sensors on the floor is what triggers the different show scenes.

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With the lights on, it doesn't look as high tech.

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Boogey! Boogey! Boogey!!!!

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Just wandering around through the ride.

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This is one of the control panels for each show scene.

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This is control room for the entire ride!

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Racks and racks of audio and video control systems.

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DarKastle computer system.

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There are TONS of electronics that control DarKastle!

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The back side of the backstage tour!

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We found the computer that spit out the Lost numbers!

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More of the ride's infrastructure.

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Um. Here some thing.

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Yes!!! This room is filled with fog!!!

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DarKastle is almost as cool wandering around inside as it is to ride!

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The curse of DarKastle is SPOOKY!!!

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But Josh and his VIP tour team were AWESOME!!!

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Next up in our backstage tour was Escape from Pompeii.

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Oooh! We are under Pompeii's drop.

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There is a Howl-o-Scream maze located under Pompeii. This makes Tyler happy.

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The under side of Pompeii! Exciting, no?

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This is what the back side of Pompeii looks like!

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TPDave goes through the secret door!!!

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Up the staircase to what is called "mid chute!"

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This is the control panel for the "mid chute" section of Pompeii. The fire effects are manually controlled from this position. This operator booth is located directly above...

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FIRE!!!!

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Pompeii's ride lock out box.

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Now for a backstage tour of an Arrow classic!

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Lochness Monster was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world when it opened and it currently the only coaster with interlocking vertical loops.

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Shhhhh! We are going the secret door!

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Inside the maintenance bay there are lots of Arrow restraints.

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It's TPDave: The Ride!!!

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I didn't know Arrow made strollers!

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Does anyone know what these are? If you do... EMAIL DAN!!! mrt0ad13@aol.com

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Boogey! Boogey! Boogey! I've got Arrow wheels for eyes!!! Gimme some candy!

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Arrow guide wheels...and a lot of them!

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Would you like BBQ sauce to dip your Arrow road wheel in?

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It's like a buffet of Arrow parts!

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IT'S A BOY!!!

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We got a few nice "rare angle" coaster photos from our backstage tours.

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Next was Europe In The Air....oh, I get it!!! "You're up in the air!" LOL! clever!

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This is what the ride vehicle looks like.

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First we got to ride!

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...and then we got to see how it works!

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Here is the Europe in the Air control room.

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The operator can keep an eye on both bays at once.

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This control goes through the sequence of operations.

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This panel tells the operator when all the seats are either filled or empty.

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"Ok to fly!"

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It was very cool to watch this thing go!

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TPDave was just happy that we were going to jolly jolly England!

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By the way...did we mention it was Tyler and Robby's 21st birthday.

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And now for some B&M backstage awesomeness!

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TPR is heading into those normally "restricted" areas for Griffon.

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This is the under side of the "floor."

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The floor drops thus making it"floorless!"

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Floor stays down until the next train parks in the station.

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From these backstage areas you can get some pretty cool pictures.

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Can't get this shot anywhere.

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Griffon lift motor and gear box.

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This is the maintenance bay for Griffon. KidTums approves!

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The Griffon station as seen from the maintenance bay.

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These giant tires guide the trains into the storage area.

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The trains will move over from the station into the storage area.

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Griffon's GIANT road wheels!

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"Can I roll one of these home?"

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"OOOMPH!!!"

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Griffon's lockout station.

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Our final stop on our backstage tours - Alpengeist!

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Still one of the best themed B&M inverts out there!

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Does anyone know what this huge device does? If you do EMAIL DAN!!! mrt0ad13@aol.com

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This is where the Alpengeist trains are stored when not in use.

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This is the "other side" of those storage shed doors you can see from the ride's queue.

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Up close with the tire system that brings the trains into the storage area.

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NOTED!

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Lots of tools and one microwave are required to keep these trains running in top shape.

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Wheel rims are still originals, but the wheels get re-treaded for multiple uses.

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Mmmmm....yummy doughnuts!

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Alpengeist was hauling ass during our night ERT.

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An overview of Alpengeist's maintenance bay.

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Oooh....boxes and boxes of toys!

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The most important machine of any roller coaster maintenance team!

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Once again, the very impressive lock out system that Busch Gardens has on all of their rides.

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A HUGE thank you to Josh for putting together a fantastic custom tour for us! His department offers several different VIP tours including the coaster tour, DarKastle walkthrough and more! Check the Busch Gardens website for more details.

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After our tours it was time to eat! Festhaus!!!

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It's Tyler & Robby's 21st Birthday!!! 3 drinks each for them!

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Drink up bitches!!!

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KidTums found a new best friend!

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"Wow! You're huge!!!"

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After many TPR trips, KidTums is very comfortable with gay men.

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We are about to soak the crap out of TPR members on Pompeii!

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The new water cannons on Pompeii are amazing!!!

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Target destroyed!!!

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Boat #2 ... Obliterated!!!

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There is a reason why BGW always wins awards for most beautiful park

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Does anyone know what this is! If you do, EMAIL DAN! mrt0ad13@aol.com

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More rides on Griffon.

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Smile guys! You are riding with a Frog Hopper celebrity.

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And yes, we dined with Elmo & Friends!

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Elmo and friends put on a great show.

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KidTums is in an Elmo trance.

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Can you spot the person in this photo that is not a TPR member? I'll give you a hint...he's blue.

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Hooray! Our favorite TPR gays have come to dinner with us! =)

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Bert is having a little trouble with this new technology.

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Mmmm....Mac and Cheese!!!

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"We are the blue and red cupcake monsters!!! EAT US NOW!!!"

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Tyler and Robby spend their 21st birthday with furries!

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Is this KidTums' first lay-down ride?

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She looks very excited!

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And now...the traditional soaking the crap out of people on Roman Rapids!

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DIE! TPR MEMBERS!!! DIE!!!

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Score! A direct hit!

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Double Water Cannons!!!!

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"This is NOT an acceptable amount of wetness!!!"

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More Domo prizes!!!!

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"I love my Skee-Ball Domo!"

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Sheep.

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TPPub Fail.

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KidTums is such a rock star!

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Twinscest Drunkenness.

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Night ERT was on Griffon and Alpengeist.

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Dive Machine under the moon light = AMAZING!

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Thank you Busch Gardens Williamsburg for a GREAT day!

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TPR Pointless Awards! Hanno gets his own award!

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Chris got "Best new most awesome person" or something like that...

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Ash got the Mike Austin "I hate food" award.

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Divv got the DUI award that Steve WOULD have got if he wasn't being such a wuss.

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KidTums got the "Credit Whore" award for the amount of times she accepted stuffed animal payments in return for riding kiddie coasters with adults!

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Ross got the Most Awesome International award.

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Steve got the "I'm sad and pathetic because I didn't drink for an entire day" award.

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And Elissa got the "Hottest coaster enthusiast in the world" award!

Edited by StealthFan
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I really want to go back to BGW soon! Hopefully a stop there and to KD will be in the works next year. BTW, I died laughing at the facebook update for KD. How about posting the "I305 is still as good with the trims so F U!" to everyones site?

 

I love making fun of the nitpickers! Although I guess there were quite a few people complaining about the Raging Bull trim STILL to the park on TPR day as I heard from my friend that is a supervisor at the park. Come on! Don't complain to the park about junk like that! They dont care and it makes you look ridiculous!

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Very nice update! I hope we get lots of behind the scenes next year on the north east trip!

 

I will admit though BGE is an OK park ride wise. Please do not get me wrong the park is BEAUTIFUL!!! They put so much into the scenery. I was very impressed with Loch Ness Monster but Alphengeist and Apollos Chariot was not fun at all to me.

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It may sometimes be necessary to enter a restricted ride area (retrieving items dropped on a ride, routine maintenance etc.) and in order to do this safely, the staff have to be sure that the ride can't possibly be running while someone is in the area. The lockout system is whatever system the park uses to make sure the ride is "locked out" of operation. At BGE they have a very comprehensive system where the master key for the ride is put in a box that is padlocked by each member of the ride team. Each employee keeps the (only) key to their padlock on a band on their wrist until they are ready to start the ride again.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Dave

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What? No Big Bad Wolf night ERT, oh yeah, I forgot - sorry. At least you got the Pigeon Forge kiddie credits that were both closed last year.

 

Seriously, Busch Europe never ceases to amaze me at how beautiful it is, and soon I'll be checking out it's Tampa sister for the first time to compare the two.

 

How was Apollo's Chariot running, it seemed very sluggish and trimmed too much on the 2008 East Coast tour?

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