Photo TR: West Coast Bash, Robb and Guy's signature Move

A little report and then onto the pics.

The good:

ERT is always good! Riding Superman 8 times in a row is awesome! Superman ride ops were great. We were able to take pictures with all the characters in the park. Meeting everyone that I have been talking to on-line for the past year. Dinner at Buca di Beppo’s on Saturday night.

The bad:

Not getting on any coasters on Saturday because Scandia and Pacific Park were closed!

The trip:

We flew down this time to Southern California on Saturday morning. I am so happy we did because of the snow and the closure of the grapevine. We arrived by 10am in Ontario and headed straight to Scandia. It was just barely sprinkling, but they had all the rides closed. We took some pictures of the park and then left for Santa Monica pier; we didn’t plan on going to KBF on this trip. As with some other reports, the area had a lot of rain off and on and some snow. It was very cold the whole weekend. We arrived at the pier and it was locked! On line it said that they would have full operation, weather permitting. It wasn’t raining at all and, aside from it being a little cold, it seemed great. We left there without getting on any coasters and headed to Hard Rock Café, Los Angeles. This HRC was really nice; I guess it was because we had a good bartender. A good bartender, waiter, or waitress will make all the difference in the world. After we ate, we headed to Valencia. We avoided the 405, so it really wasn’t a bad drive up there. This trip we stayed at the Best Western. Aside from being so close to the freeway it was alright. We both like the Hilton Garden Inn better though. After a dip in the hot tub, we headed to Buca di Beppo to meet up with Robb, Elissa, and the gang. It was a great meal and good conversation at the Pope table. I still can’t believe that Jeremy walked all the way from Disneyland to Knott’s Berry Farm and then took a cab to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Everything is an adventure though! I hope you made it back to Atlanta safely. It was a pleasure meeting everyone else, Dave, Jeff, Jeremy, Rebecca, and Chris.

Sunday – ERT at SFMM! After not getting on any coasters yesterday, we were looking forward to the ERT on Sunday. The weather was cooperating by not raining, but it was 31 degrees when we got up. We arrived at the park by 7:45 and found out that it would take X a while to warm-up (it would take a while for EVERYONE to warm-up too!). Goliath and Viper had to warm-up also and ERT started just after 8. We road Goliath a few times and then headed to Viper and bounced back and forth a couple times. It was fun hanging out with Wally, Monica, Craig, and Martin for a little bit. On the way to Viper, I saw Catrina sitting at a table just outside of it. I figured she was beat up enough from Viper! I saw Ted getting off the ride as I was getting on in the front car. I asked if he wanted to ride one more time in the front. I guess his brain wasn’t scrambled all that bad yet. Gyendolynne sat out the ride and talked with Catrina. She enjoyed meeting and talking with both Catrina and Nataliee. It was great meeting all of you, Ted, Catrina, Chris and Nataliee. Superman was testing, so we headed back up the hill to hopefully get on it. We were in luck, we road it 8 times in a row without getting off. The first 3 times we got so high because there were only 4 of us on it. After that, it filled up, but we still had some great rides. I rode Riddlers’ next. They only had one train going. Batman was right after that, and they only had 1 train going! I was pretty surprised by this. We didn’t ride Colossus or Scream as we headed towards the front to leave. The characters were out for photo ops and we took pictures with every one of them on the way out. X was testing, but no one was up passed the hill and we had to get to the airport. It was a good flight home, I wish we could have stayed for the party at R&E’s place, maybe next time.

Marvin the Martian

Bugs and Daffy

Taz

Sylvester

The next few are some character pics. Tweety

Let me see if anyone is riding Viper...NOPE!

Catrina and Ted getting ready to go out on Goliath.

Robb, Dave Thomas, Guy and Jeremy coming back into the station after their freezing ride.

Getting ready for our Goliath ride in 30+ degree temperatures. I think my hands are still frozen. That is Jeremy and Wally behind us.

Freezing cold, but the fountains are working.

Everyone needs to check in.

Sunday for some ERT. Wally, Craig and Monica

Buca di Beppo's Pope table. They also took us on a tour of the kitchen!

Elvis' Harley is there.

Oh well, onto Hard Rock Cafe

I think Gyendolynne can pick the lock.

No rain, a little cold and the place is locked!

Bubba Gump's

A little cold, but no rain.

Beautiful Santa Monica beach.

This castle might dwarf Disneyland's.

I'll have to get you another day

What? temporarily closed....

A slide...

Pretty cold and a little rainy...

Yeah Scandia....

Here's the snow as we are leaving San Jose. I don't know if this was Mt. Hamilton or not.

Oh boy! Southwest airlines. These neck pillows came in handy though

Great stuff! I'm glad we got at least one photo from Buca's!

It's funny sometimes when you're having so much fun you actually forget to take photos!!!!!

Perhaps tomorrow I'll take some of the photos you have, Guy has, Craig, etc, and do a bigger TPR photo TR from this weekend.

--Robb

Why do I always have this look on my face when I run into you guys?

Nice TR Rick!

It was great to meet you guys this past weekend and i think I am still recovering from all the rides on Viper. Hopefully, we get to hang out somewhere in the future.

Nice Pic's you must of been mad riding "Goliath" in cold weather

Was the Helix living up to it's black-out status.

I rode "Robin Hood" at Walibi World 6 times in a row when it was raining, it did gain 6 seconds round the track.

^My wife has come close to blacking out on Goliath, but I haven't felt it. The G's at the end were fairly intense though.

^^Ted, Gyendolynne and I both enjoyed meeting the two of you. Maybe we'll see each other again at a Steelers' game....

^^^Wally, I agree, your pics always turn out this way. It seems to be your "signature" move.

^^^^Robb, I am glad I got a picture of the pope on the table. It was a good night with great conversation and plenty of food.

I'm surprised no one grabbed Robb and Guy's signature move....

Signature move.