So I get stuck out at the convention center in Orlando for 3 days for a technology conference. Wheeee. Lots of time listening to people talk, thankfully about subjects that I'm at least interested in, and hours walking around a floor area with hundreds of vendors. Talk about exhausting....

But thankfully, I was only a couple of miles away from Universal's Islands of Adventure. So once I reached burnout point each day (around 3-4 pm when it started at 8am) So once I was to tired to know a venn diagram from a computer schematic, it was off to the park to try to unwind and get my brain back in order.

Let me say, I love slow, off season days at the park. I didn't wait more than 2-3 ride cycles for anything that I wanted to ride, and often times just walked onto whatever ride it was. But the highlight was Dueling Dragons. It was slow enough that I was able to get off the coaster, walk through the exit and the reride line, and be back in line and boarding the train for the next ride to dispatch. I think in the two days I probably got around 30 rides on both Fire and Ice. Talk about an exhilerating way to relax.

Which is one of the reasons that I love coasters so much. There's just something about them- the rush of adrenaline that comes with the first drop, the exhileration of flying around in otherwise impossible ways, the feel of the wind on your face as you're flying around and through the air, and the great fun it can be to interact with the other people riding the train. It's just that kind of fun that I can't get enough of sometimes.

And it was another reminder why having a season pass for a park is such a good investment when all is said and done. I was able to spend a couple hours each day at the park for 3 days- something that would have been just plain unaffordable if I had been spending money for daily addition. But with this, it's money well worth spending when I, essentially, had 3 days at the park with no money spent outside of a couple of dollars for a cola here and there. And to get in that many rides on one of my favorite coasters in the country- well worth the exchange, and practically a lifesaver during the convention!

As you get involved in talking to those within the coaster enthusiast community, one of the things that you will be asked sooner or later is, "What's your count? How many coasters have you ridden?" It seems like an innocent enough question, and not a big deal. But it is one of the fun things about the hobby. One of the first things I did when I really started my interest was to compose a list of the coasters that I'd been on, just to see how many I'd ridden. I now keep counts for my kids to.

For some, the count may mean even a bit more than just a fun part of a hobby. For those "serious" about their coasters, the count says as much about a person's experiences and how valid their opinions are as anything else. So whether you count for fun, or you want to get serious about it, here's my rules and guidelines for counting coasters. Not only have I mentioned how I maintain and keep my own count, but I also try to include other methods and opinions if they seem to have a good number of people that use those methods. So without further ado, here we go:

1. The first thing to determine is, what makes a roller coaster a roller coaster?
Why aren't log flumes and simulators considered roller coasters? For me at least, the answer to this is right in the name of the ride- roller coaster. Roller- it has to roll on wheels. And coaster- it has to coast under the power of gravity. Of course, it can't be just that simple, not with the variety of rides out there. So let me explain a bit more.

1a. Roller- It has to be on wheels. Period. No wheels, it's not a coaster.
Additionally, it must maintain those wheels in relative position to the track. So if you have wheels on the bottom, you can't shift to another set of wheels on the back of the car (e.g. freefall drop rides). The wheels don't always have to roll, or even necessarily be in contact with the track the entire time (e.g. moments of negative g-forces, or in the case of a hybrid flume/ coaster), but the track has to stay in one place in relation to where the wheels are- always on the bottom, top, side, etc.

1b. Coaster- it has to, for at least a portion of the ride, coast solely under the power of gravity and/or momentum.
I don't care how the ride starts (lift hill, powered launch, elevator (maintaining the wheel position to track of course!), but somewhere along the way it has to coast unaided or unhindered by anything mechanical. Thus powered coasters or dark rides that have a drop don't count, since they never really coast without power or something else helping to propel them.

Using those guidelines, let me mention a couple of specific rides that seem to come up in "are they a coaster" conversations, and how I determined what my own answer is. I'll start with the Journey to Atlantis rides at Sea World in Orlando and San Diego. They are a mix of flume rides with portions that include roller coaster track and drops. After looking at them, I ended up deciding to count the one in San Diego as a coaster, but not the one in Orlando. Outside of one single coaster drop on the one in Orlando, there isn't any other portion on it that resembles a roller coaster. Instead it's almost entirely a flume ride, and the one small portion wasn't, for me at least, enough to call it a coaster. On the other hand, the one in San Diego has almost half of it's length as coaster track, with three drops and some other coaster action, so it did get counted. In other words the overall feel and type of ride can, and sometimes does play a part- especially in rides that mix more than one ride type together.

Possibly the biggest coaster to be argued about is Superman: The Escape at Six Flags Magic Mountain, a ride that launches you at up to 100 mph, rocketing you straight up a 410 foot tall tower where, after a 6 second hesitation, you then drop backwards down the way you came and end up back in the station. For me at least, it's pretty clear that it's a coaster. The wheels on the car always maintain their position with the track (on the bottom of the car), and after the launch it's momentum is all that continues to propel it forward and then up the tower. After that, gravity takes over and it coasts all the way down the tower and back to the station, as it's braked to make sure that it stops when it should. It rolls, and it coasts. Simple. And yet this ride seems to have more controversy over it than any other out there. I always get a kick to out of the ones who won't count it, but they'll count impulse coasters (e.g. Vertical Velocity or Steel Venom) or shuttle loops as coaster, even though they are incredibly similar.

Ok, that done, back to my list of rules for counting.

2. Each individually operating track on a coaster counts as one.
This means that I will count racing and dueling coasters once for each side, as each one can operate completely independently of whether or not the other side is running. This is true for pretty much every coaster that has 2 sides to choose from, with only 2 known exceptions that I'll deal with in a minute. In my mind, if that ride can operate independently on it's own, then it deserves to be counted on it's own. That would mean that Disney's Matterhorn (or Space Mountain at WDW), SFMM's Colossus, IOA Dueling Dragons, Hershey's Lightning Racers, PKI's John Allen Racer, CP's Gemini, etc would all count as two coasters. The only exceptions would be Kennywood's Racer and one coaster in England, which are "mobius" coasters- both sides are actually one long, continuous track. You leave on one side and come return to the station on the other. In these cases because each side can't operate on their own, I would count them as one coaster, and only once I'd been on both sides. As a side note, there are a good number of people who disagree on my general rule here and count coasters as one per "attraction", viewing the coasters as one ride sharing the same name and location on the map. The community is probably divided up pretty evenly on this aspect.

3. "Clones" all count individually
As you travel around, you'll notice that there are some coasters that just seem to be all over the place- boomerangs, Vekoma suspended looping coasters (slc's), Batman: The Ride, Galaxi's, and many others. These are coasters that are built with the same exact kinds of track, layout, trains, etc and are, except for location, virtually identical. However, they are still separate coasters, and their locations, scenery, theming, etc., help to make an impact on the rides as well. Thus, while I have been on 5 coasters called Batman: the Ride, and they are all virtually identical, each one is counted once, for a total of 5 on my list. This also influences my next point:

4. A coaster that has moved from one park to another may be counted again.
I've only had to deal with this once so far that I know of, with the bobsled coaster that was once at SFMM as Sarajevo Bobsleds and now resides at SFoT as La Vibora. At the time I rode it the second time, I didn't have a clue that it was the same coaster (nor did I particularly care to much at the time) As far as I was concerned, I was riding a ride that was completely new to me. The change in parks had a drastic difference in how I perceived the ride, and for me the new location equaled a new coaster. There are some that would argue against my views here, pointing out that it's the same machine as I had ridden previously. To which I pointed at that the clones I'd ridden practically were to, but they all counted individually, even though they were identical rides. Seems to me that the two are intertwined since they both involve the same ride at different locations, though getting agreement on that would be a challenge. :)

5. A coaster that moves to a different location in the same park does NOT get counted again.
This should seem obvious, but in light of the last two points, I did want to clarify that. Same park, same ambience, etc. The next point is also related to this:

6. A coaster that gets rethemed, enclosed, etc., but in the same location does not get counted again.
This includes most cosmetic changes to a coaster, as even though the surroundings change, the coaster itself does not. So even though a coaster that may have been outdoors now has a building around it, it's still the same coaster in the same location. People aren't going to look at it and think it's a new ride, thus it doesn't get counted as one.

7. Reprofiling or major changes are a case-by-case basis
This is where changes to a coaster's layout, trains, or other major changes to it come in. If a large portion of a coaster has been retracked, but the layout is identical, it's not counted again. But if in that process they made changes to the layout of the coaster, then it might, depending on how much was changed and how drastic. A couple of examples- Colossus at SFMM has had it's first drop sequence changed from when it opened as well has had a double down (one drop after another) changed to a flat section with a brake on it. While both changes affected the ride, it is still, essentially the same coaster, so no new count. However, Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood changed huge portions of that coaster, removing loops and inversions and changing the course in major ways. New coaster.

Trains may or may not influence this to, and are an individual decision. Does riding a coaster sitting down one time, then on a standup train count twice (there's a coaster in Japan that does this)? For some yes, others no. Does riding it forwards and backwards count once for each time? For me, sometimes yes and sometimes no. If the backwards is a unique change not always offered, I would count it. But if both options are offered simultaneously, no. Confusing? You bet! Not a lot hard and fast here. Which brings me to my last point:

8. Counting is up to the individual doing the counting!
In the end, it's up to you to count what you want to count and to go by your rules, not someone else’s. If you're not sure, feel free to seek advice. But in the end with so many differences, variances, and changes, there isn't any way to have solid rules that everyone is going to agree on about what to count and what not to count. Everyone is going to end up disagreeing on something or other. That's just part of life. So make sure it's something you're comfortable with, don't get upset if others disagree, and be open to other opinions and maybe even changing yours at some point. That goes for me to, as I'm constantly revising and editing my own rules. And probably will again once I get feedback from this, so look for edits and changes to be forthcoming. :) In any case though, remember- it's a hobby and is supposed to be fun. If it gets serious or offensive because of a disagreement, then someone's priorities about life are in the wrong place. Don't let that be you!

This is a really long one, so be prepared. :)

Trip Report- Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure 11-13-15

The people- me and my family- wife Margaret (who was ill most of the
weekend), daughter Amber, and son Joseph. We also met up with Brian and
Jay, and their son William
Weather- very nice. A bit warm and humid Sat turning to rain, and cooler
Sunday
Crowds- moderate overall- light in some areas, heavy in others

Brian Farrel gave me a call about a month back letting me know that he was
planning a trip down here with Jay and his son William in mid-November,
and wanted to know if we wanted to join him. As it turns out, I finally
got a full time job that gave us the finances that allowed us to go and
pick up passes to Universal. So we agreed on days, and with some
coordination we were off to Universal for 2-3 days.

We took off from the school that my entire family works at or attends
around 2:50 to start the drive to Orlando before the traffic picked up.
We pulled into the parking garage at the parks right around 4:30, so we
made good time, even with my traditional wrong turn. To much later and
the 70 minute drive would have turned into almost 2 hours. And with the
park closing at 6, we wanted every bit of time we could get.

To get from the garages/ entry area to the park entrances, you have to go
through City Walk, which is their outdoor mall/ restaurant plaza, tourist
trap, that you reach after several long walkways and promenades.
Thankfully they’ve put in moving sidewalks throughout, or this turns into
a very, very long walk, and while it was well done, it also became one
thing that I didn’t like- no option or way to skip it or to avoid the
walk. While it’s good for getting more tourist dollars, when you’re tired
and just want to leave, it’s a royal pain in the neck. To top it off,
they were having their “Beer Festival” this weekend, which meant in the
afternoons and evenings it was crowded shoulder to shoulder with people
everywhere, many of which had a bit much to drink, and the overwhelming
odor of their drink. Enough so that it made me and my daughter queasy
with the smell, and having to push our way through the people to get to
and from the parks was not fun either. It would have been very nice if
they had made a drop off point or some form of parking either in the
middle of the citywalk, or with someway to bypass it, but unfortunately
you’re stuck with it. Nice when you want it, but frustrating when you
don’t.

We made our way up to the entrance of IOA, admiring the lighthouse as we
approached, and paid our first installment on the payment plan for our
passes, entered the park and went straight away to the left to get them
processed. After getting our pictures taken and being done with that
fairly quickly, we had about an hour left until the park closed, and
decided to take advantage of it with a couple of rides.

First though was Ports of Entry, the front plaza of the park designed as a
Meditteranean style village, with accompanying sounds, music, etc, and
immediately sets the tone for the park. This is a park like no other
except for maybe Disney when it comes to theming. You truly feel that
you’re walking into another world, and we absolutely loved it. One of our
regrets was that we didn’t have more time to stroll around here and poke
into the shops and other areas, but we’ll certainly do that on subsequent
visits.

After walking through the gorgeous entry, we made a right turn and crossed
the bridge into Seuss Landing, the world of Seuss come to life, again just
to look around and see what to see for a few minutes. The line for The
Cat in the Hat was a short 15 minutes according to the sign outside, so we
gravitated there and hopped into our car when it came up. The ride is a
dark ride, retelling the classic story, and the props and animations are
done very well, though none of the story elements stands out as
particularly new technology. But they are all fun and very conducive to
the ride. Where it truly stands out is the car you’re riding in, which
turns, twists, and at times spins around in full circles along with the
ride, making this a ton of fun. It very quickly moved into our list of
family favorites, and may vie for my favorite dark ride of all, but I’ll
have to think about that one some.

After exiting the ride, we took in a little more of the landscaping, then
turned back the way we had come, crossed briefly through Ports of Entry
and took a look at Hulk as we walked under it and into Marvel Superheros
Isle. Our destination at this point was a ride my son was literally
begging to ride, the one he was most excited about, and one that I did to,
though I was a little concerned- Spiderman. As most of you know, Spidey
is a mix of 4d movie and immersive, interactive thrill ride, and has a
great queue that first time riders really really should go through as it
sets the stage and the story for the ride (as Brian found out later when
we took a spin on it) From there it’s into your “high tech reporters’
carriage” and into the ride.

I won’t give away storylines here, but I’ll say that it is one incredible
ride. And the kids both came off with huge grins and Joseph loudly
proclaiming for everyone to hear, “Best ride, EVER!” There wasn’t one of
the four of us that didn’t thoroughly enjoy it, and it is definitely one
that we’ll be riding over and over again on future visits.

At this point the park was about to close and Margaret was worn out, so we
headed out, went to our hotel, and after a nice dinner at Denny’s were all
asleep by 8:30. Yeah, even me, which is rather frightening. :)

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast in our room, then called
Brian. He was running a bit behind us, and Margaret was washed out, so it
started out with just me and the kids, while Margaret slept in a bit and
planned to meet us later. Because of the long walk, especially with
CityWalk in mind, and because our hotel’s first shuttle to the park didn’t
leave until 20 minutes after the park opened, I drove from the hotel to
the park and used my free parking with my pass. We were there almost an
hour early, so we looked around City Walk a bit more, took a couple of fun
pictures around it, and were at the entrance of IOA around 40 minutes
before it opened.

While they didn’t open the front plaza early to let people hand around
there, which is what I hoped, they did actually open up the whole park
about 10 minutes early. So we were off and walking quickly towards
Jurassic Park by way of Marvel Superheros and Toon Lagoon. The gorgeous
scenery and theming continues throughout the entire park, and it was a
great effect to enter Jurassic Park and see the Pteradon Flyers cruising
overhead. That was our destination, and we were the first ones in the
park to arrive there. Amber and Joseph took one car, and I took another
by myself behind them.

Pteradon Flyers is a Caripro suspended coaster with the passengers sitting
in what looks like a lawn chair hanging from a pteradon, one seat behind
the other. Outside of a seat belt, there isn’t much holding you in, but
that’s one of the nice things with this- feeling free as you ride. They
only run 3 cars because of how long the coaster is, but they did a pretty
good job dispatching- enough so that we were all able to get in 2 rides
each before anyone else even arrived at the coaster, though it did get
longer lines later on due to it’s low capacity. While not a scary coaster
by any means, it is, however, quite a lot of fun. On my coaster scale of
1-10, it would score a solid 7.

Being as this end of the park was still empty, and we had about 20 minutes
until we were supposed to meet Brian and Jay at Spiderman, we decided to
take a chance on the River Adventure, and ended up with a boat all to
ourselves. This is the ride you may have seen featured on TV, with the
dinosaurs next to the boat, etc. Again, without ruining the ride, it has
a rather dramatic, tension filled ending. Unfortunately, this one proved
to be a bit to much for Amber and Joseph. If you’re local, you may have
seen a commercial with a woman squeezing her kids to death on this ride.
That was pretty much us at the end, with the kids holding on to me and me
holding them to keep them from getting to scared. A great ride, but not
one that younger kids should go on due to the story. Funny thing was,
they both asked to ride it again later on since they then knew what would
happen, but we didn’t’ let them.

After this it was over to meet Brian, Jay, and William at Spiderman, and
my memory of what exactly we did when gets a bit fuzzy, so might be a bit
off here. We took a round on Spiderman, taking advantage of the baby swap
for William. Which brings me to something else I wanted to mention.
Universal for their baby swaps has waiting rooms at just about every ride
that would need it. You can actually take the baby and go sit down in a
nice comfortable area as opposed to sitting on an exit ramp getting run
over as so many parks do. Kudos to how they do the swapping.

We grabbed Universal Express passes for Hulk (think fastpass) and headed
around to the other side of the park, stopping for the Caro-Seuss-el in
Seuss Landing for a ride there, and eventually made our way over to
Dueling Dragons- one of the few rides without a baby swap area. We used
the observation area outside as a sort of substitute, with my kids helping
to watch William while we took a quick round on Fire. After running into
and saying hi to some friends from Westcoaster that happened to be
visiting, I was lucky enough to manage to grab a front seat ride on Fire
for my first ride by filling an empty seat when I had been lined up for
the second row.

Fire is a great ride- Almost everything I want in the coaster itself, and
great visuals with it’s interactions with Ice. I really enjoyed the
layout, the theming, and everything about it. On the scale, it would be
an easy 9 out of 10, and maybe higher, depending on my mood. However, it
was also here that we ran into one thing that did bother me about the
park. They were only running one train on each side, and their dispatch
times were horribly slow. But that wasn’t the only thing slowing them
down. Apparently they also offer VIP tours which get to cut the line,
enter from the exit, and wave at everyone waiting in line. When they let
these groups on, though, it slows down their loading of the ride so much,
it’s horrendous. Some delay is understandable, but they were very, very
slow getting these groups on. And with a couple of large groups, it was a
long delay that didn’t have to be anywhere near that long.

With the lines growing, and not wanting to leave the kids out to much
more, we made our way back towards the front of the park. Our pass time
for Hulk was also drawing near, and I was looking forward to experiencing
the ride that so many have talked about. We made a short stop at the
talking fountain for the kids, which was asleep this time around, admired
more of the incredible theming and scenery, then made our way back over to
Hulk.

We used both our passes and a child swap on Hulk, which meant that all of
us were able to a ride in pretty quickly, with me getting a front seat
ride when I swapped in. Loading up, the launch into the zero-g was
great! The cobra roll and loop went by in a hurry. And then it becomes a
blur. That’s because for some reason the Hulk decided to pound me
repeatedly to my head. Not just in the corkscrews/ flatspins, but
throughout the rest of the ride. So much so that I came off dizzy and a
bit sore. As much as any Arrow ever did to me, which was really sad.
Brian and Jay didn’t have any problems, but for me it was anything but a
smooth ride. So I didn’t come off to happy. I took another chance later
on near the back with Margaret, but both of us got knocked around on that
one, and I actually had a small headache. Surprisingly, Brian, who
usually is the one hurting, didn’t get that. Somehow I guess I’m just the
wrong size on this one, but it hurts- enough so that I don’t have to much
of a desire to ride it again. I’m sure I’ll give it another chance
though. But if I were to grade it right now, it would be around a 3 out
of 10.

Margaret had by this time rested up and now met up with us at the entrance
of the park. With Margaret now joining us, we headed back through Seuss Landing and up
to the Lost Continent, which has 3 sub-areas in it- Atlantis/ Poseidon,
India, and a Medieval Europe send off. Seeing Poseidon, and after
discussing it a bit, we decided to give it a chance. Poseidon is a walk
through show with several stopping points for the story elements. Some
great special effects, but enough scary parts that it was hard for the
kids, and enough of the mythological/ magic elements that Margaret wasn’t
to keen on it either. The kids gave it a rousing “sort of liked it.” I
might have found it enjoyable but for dealing with the kids being scared
and the wife not approving and wanting to leave. :)

We also poked into Mythos and admired the beauty as well as the out of
reach prices, and then stopped at the Flying Unicorn, a custom Vekoma
Roller Skater that they were running 2 trains on and dispatching very
quickly. Dragons could take some serious lessons from the people running
Unicorn. It was a fun little coaster, and if you like Skaters, you’ll
like the Unicorn. 6 out of 10.

From here we took an extended stay at Camp Jurassic, which is in the
middle of Pteradon Flyers. While Amber and Jay got in line for the
coaster, and Margaret took a long sitting breather, the rest of us ran
around and played with the water guns, rope bridges, and more in the play
area. It’s the first one where they actually seem to have designed it
with adults in mind on the rope bridges and walkways, and was a heck of a
lot of fun. After playing there and the girls getting their rides in, we
took a stop at a small water fountain play area where William had a great
time splashing around, shot some free water cannons off of Me Ship, the
Olive onto those on the rapids ride, and then decided to head over to
Universal Studios as the weather started to threaten rain.

After shoving and pushing our way through the City Walk crowds gathered
for the beer festival (this at around 3pm) we headed into U.S. While it’s
theming isn’t as immersive as IOA is, it is still a very nice park and
very well done. And we headed off to find something with a relatively
short wait that we could all enjoy. We ended up at Tornado, and did a
swap of William with Brian and Jay so we could all take it in. After
having experienced a real one, I can tell you that Margaret and I were
both going through flashbacks a bit, with it only missing the roaring
train sound. Very immersive, and frightening Margaret and Amber a bit.

Coveniently, as we got in line for it, it started to rain for real. And
from this point on, it didn’t stop the rest of the day. I had left our
ponchos in the car, and we put off buying more in the hopes it would
stop. So for the next hour or two, the goal was to stay out of the rain.
With that, we took a short hop up to Jimmy Neutron, which gave a fun romp
through NickToons that all of us enjoyed a lot. William was smiling and
laughing through it according to Brian, and we loved it just as much.
This is another one I want to do again.

Then it was dodging rain for bathrooms. We were going to take in Shrek,
but the stroller parking was outside where it was raining. Why they don’t
have a covered area for stroller parking at the shows, especially the ones
where kids are going to go and in a place where it rains frequently, is
beyond me. That seems like a rather obvious thing to do on the park’s
part. As it is, they wouldn’t allow the stroller in the line to hold
William, so we ended up skipping it after a short dispute with the
attendant over the matter. So instead Margaret and Jay took the kids to
one of the restaurants to try to wait out the rain in the hopes it would
stop while Brian and I headed over to get the Mummy, since everything else
would be an extended walk in the rain without ponchos, which we didn’t
want to do.

The Mummy was interesting. A great queue, reminiscent in many ways of
Indiana Jones at Disneyland. The trains are one car long, with 4 rows of
4 passengers, and the loader was efficient, as long as he wasn’t
distracted by people loading in from the exit side (again!) The ride
itself is more of a dark ride at the beginning, with some great effects
before you get to the backwards portion, which turned out to be pretty
short, before turning around again and then launching into a short, but
fun, coaster section. Without revealing any secrets, the coaster part
ends up interrupted and a bit awkward. I would have preferred a couple of
changes to the middle of the ride, and some of the effects on the coaster
part almost seemed a bit silly. While fun, it was a bit of a
disappointment. We took a quick second round, but overall it just didn’t
impress me in the ride portion all that much. I would have liked it to
either have more coaster, or uninterrupted, or just a dark ride. But the
mix of the two came out a bit awkward. As such it gets a 6-7 out of 10.

AT this point, not only was the rain not quitting, but it actually seemed
to be getting harder. So we bought a couple of ponchos for the wives and
kids and headed out through the crowds still drinking in the rain and on
the long walk back to the car. Thankfully most of the walk after CityWalk
was covered. A nice dinner and we were back in bed and mostly asleep
before 9. At least in my room. :)

Sunday would be a shorter one due to us having to drive home this
afternoon and Margaret still not feeling well. We met up in the morning
and I chauffeured all of us to the parking garage and arrived at IOA’s
entrance about 20 minutes or so after the park opened. Shooting to head
over to Dueling Dragons so that I could catch Ice early, we realized as we
passed through Seuss Landing that there were no lines for Cat in the Hat
or One Fish Two Fish, so we caught quick rides on each of those. The kids
then had some fun with the fountain, which was active this morning. Then
while the wives and kids looked around some shops, Brian and I headed to
get in my first ride on Ice.

This time we lined up for the front row since the lines were short, and
once again they were running only one train for each side and the crews
seemed to be moving very slow. The one train didn’t bother me at this
point, since there weren’t really any lines to speak of, but the slow
crews seems to be a consistent problem. And it’s striking in a place
where so much stands out as excellent otherwise.

Ice, on the other hand, didn’t disappoint. While not as intense as Fire,
it still delivered a great ride. Fast, smooth, and with some great
fly-byes. I loved the near-hit with the castle wall. And for both sides
the head on encounter is just great. Not quite as great as Fire, but
still a fantastic ride and earning another solid 9.

We made our way back through the Lost Continent and Seuss Landing again,
letting the kids get necklaces from one of the costumed workers for making
silly faces, and playing in the If I Ran the Zoo playground while William
took another ride on the Caro-Seuss-el. From there it was back out
through the wonderful Ports of Call and back to Universal Studios to try
to catch some of what we had missed the day before.

Our first stop after eating at Mel’s Diner was Shrek, and in a word, it
was great. The preshow was a lot of fun, and the movie itself carried on
from the first one perfectly. Far better, I think, than Shrek 2 does. We
all loved it and are looking forward to visiting it again on future visits.

We then wandered up Hollywood to Kidzone, where we caught our rides on
the normal- sized roller skater, Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster.
We then headed up the walk a bit to Men in Black. At this point Margaret’s
strength was starting to fade, but we managed to get in a ride together-
once where Brian sat out with William, then Brian and Jay getting in a
ride. I would have had the high score in our car but for Jay, who is
apparently a crack shot. I think her score the second time around was
230,000 or something like that. Wow.

Unfortunately, at this point, Margaret was done. Drained and worn out
from her illness, she performed well for being sick. But with a drive
ahead of us, and not feeling good, it was time to go. So after a bit of
souvenier shopping, we said our goodbyes and headed out.

The parks overall were absolutely fantastic. The theming was perfectly
done and very immersive. Employees with a couple of exceptions, were
friendly and efficient, even down to the one coloring with sidewalk chalk
in Seuss Landing each day. And the rides were great, with the special
effects tying in very well on the rides itself. There was a lot that we
didn’t get to do for various reasons, but it gives us a lot to look
forward to on future visits and will make our passes well worth the money.

At least it better. I was joking with Brian that our budget for park
passes this year went from our normal $250-300 a year in the past to about
$1200 this year for the parks here. Wowch! And that doesn’t even include
Disney, which would easily more than double that figure. But the parks at
least do well in making it worth the money.

Thanks for reading this huge, long monster, and I hope you enjoyed it. I
know that I did typing it up.

Well, the announcement came out today, and it looks like Busch Gardens in Tampa is going to be adding one fantastic addition next year! The first "dive machine" every to be built in the US (similar to Oblivion in Great Britain), but bigger and better! With 2 vertical, 90 degree drops, an immelman loop, and an underground tunnel, it won't be a one trick pony. That's for sure. And it looks like it's going to blend in very well with the rest of the park.

It's nice living so close to a park, and a high quality one at that. With it so close, it's easy to make several small visits frequently. That makes it a great place to take short time outs when it gets stressful, frustrating, or just needing some time away and to relax a bit. And with BGT being so beautifully landscaped, and with lots of little "niches" and quiet areas, it's a great destination. Especially with it's great mix of coasters, animals, and entertainment. It truly does offer something for everyone.

And with the announcement, the next few months should be interesting and fun. It's fascinating to watch them build a coaster (I was fortunate enough to see them build a couple in CA), and I'm looking forward to watching this as it's built and put together. And in just a few months it'll be ready to ride. That's when the excitement will really begin.

I've had this suspicion for a while now that disasters seem to follow me. First time I ever took a plane flight, on a little commuter flight, one week later that exact same flight crashed. When I moved to TX our apartments were hit by a tornado a few months after we got there. Saw a plane crash at the Point Mugu airshow a while back. Watched Sacramento experience it's two worst years of flooding while I lived there. And now that I'm in Florida, for all of 2 months, I've experienced hurricanes. Not just one, but two. And maybe a third in another week. Boy, am I blessed! :P

Really for us Charley turned out to be nothing as far as directly. It was expected to be a head on hit on the Tampa area, with the eye shooting right for us. If it had done that, it would have been far, far worse than it was, and thankfully it turned before it did that. Even as it is, there are still questions and disputes over the death tolls in a couple of the counties that were hit by Charley when it turned, with no one seeming to have an actual hard number. And the damage that it did do where it hit was tremendous. Seen some of it first hand, and just leaves you in awe, and very grateful that it wasn't us. But as for our home, we barely saw a sprinkle of rain and pretty much no winds. So direct experience, Charley was a breeze, but accross the state it was bad. Very bad.

Francis on the other hand gave us a lot more to "experience" than Charley did. From early Sunday morning until Monday afternoon we got 8 inches of rain and saw a lot of wind. A lot of it. As for how hard they were, the winds weren't any stronger, necessarily, than what we were used to dealing with when we had the Santana winds in Southern Cal (well, maybe a bit harder, but not much), but there was a lot more of it, and it was gustier. And it was those gusts that did the damage. Our apartments only have one tree down, and a couple at my wife's school. But around town there is more. Accross the stree is a whole wall of trees that was ripped out of the ground. Several others are down, and there's one apartment complex that had pieces of it's roofing ripped off. Then we had the 15 hours without power from the storm. But overall, we still came out pretty good, even with the eye rolling right over our heads. Considering what it could have been, I'm not complaining.

And now we may have another one. Ivan is starting to form up and head this way. Whether or not it actually makes it to us or turns some other direction, we don't know yet. And won't for a few days yet. Oh, to be so blessed....

In any case, I'm out taking some pictures, and I'll be heading to Busch Gardens Tampa today when they reopen at noon to look around and see how they fared. I know there is some flooding not far from the park, so I'll have to take a longer route to get there safely. Should be interesting to see how they came out, and I'll be posting up those pictures hopefully tonight.

Which reminds me, if you're interested in my pictures at all, I post them up on my smugmug album, and you're more than welcome to take a look at them there. You can see them at http://sirwillow.smugmug.com Enjoy.

Well, it's been a couple of days now since the "final blow up" for lack of a better way to call it. A couple of days for me to calm down a bit and try to get a grip. Things are slowly settling out and sorting out from the storm (though the hardest hit counties still have a long ways to go, and haven't even begun to release casualty information or much else since they're trying just to get basics up). But life goes on, and so should I.

First, a couple of things I want to clear up after some of my emotional rantings and ravings from the last couple of days. If it's not clear, my major problems have arisen, and consistently been, with one person over the last 2 months. When I say that I'm sick of something, or tired of WC and won't miss it, I'm not refering to the people or community there. I'm refering to the boatloads of garbage I've had from the one, from public slams to hateful, insulting, curse filled notes in private, the complete inability to say much of anything about anything without getting slammed by the one, and the whole deal. It's hard to separate them all out sometimes, but they are separate, and while it may have sounded like I was laying the blame on several people, truthfully when it comes down it, the problems revolved around just one.

That isn't to say, however, that I don't have disagreements with how it was handled overall. I, first of all, could have, and should have, handled it much better. Some of my responses to the one were definitly not typical me, and I let them get under my skin and reacted from that far more than I should have. I cartainly have some regrets over some of what I said, and wouldn't mind being able to take some of that back. But at the same time when I look back again at the stuff sent to me (and I have most of it archived) it doesn't hesitate to get me extremely upset again and the callousness and complete disrespect that is shown there- especially from someone that is supposed to be a coworker, equal, and who I thought was a friend.

The other is my frustration, sadness, and pain, from how others reacted. While this person slammed me in public, they were never publicly rebuked. Ever. Yet I was several times- and on comments that I still fail to see how they were offensive if someone actually looked at what I said. I just don't get it. If anyone else had made the comments the other person did, they would have been slammed and put very quickly in their place. But for whatever reason, people didn't say anything publicly about what he said. And with so many comments directed spitefully towards me from him, it hurts.

It makes me wonder to about some of those that I consider friends among that group. I've been informed that they've repeatedly asked what the deal with me is. Yet none of them, ever, ever asked me about it. Why? I'm still waiting to hear from them- any of them. But it feels like they'd rather talk among themselves about me than talk to me. Maybe I'm partially the cause for that, but I've always believed that's not what friends do. If you have a problem with someone, or think someone else has a problem, and they're your friend, you go to them and talk to them about it. And work things out together. Or maybe it's just that I have a very different idea of what friends are. In any case, now I'm left wondering how many of those I thought were my friends really were. Or still are.

The sad thing is, because most of them are close friends of the one, I kind of have a feeling (possibly wrong, but no one will talk to me to let me know) what's happening behind the scenes. Which just goes to reinforce how much of the outsider I was. It's hard when you feel like you're outside the "clique" of buddies, and feeling like that's playing a major role in what's going on with how people deal (or not) with you.

And it's to bad to. Because I will miss most of them. I will miss the conversations and what we did together. But the aggravation, frustration, feelings of being attacked constantly, and ridiculous, stupid fighting over anything and everything I said just aren't worth it. If it's to the point where a person can't every say anything for fear of being attacked, then there's just no point in being there.

Maybe someday it'll sort out again. Maybe someday things will work out where I could go back. But I just don't see it anytime soon. To many walls would have to come down, changes would have to be made and certain people dealt with. And sadly, I just don't see it happening anytime in the near future. Which is sad for a place that otherwise is a great place. And for people that I'd still love to see and get together with again, but am afraid that because of this that may not happen again.

Y'know, a life as a loner really sucks sometimes. Trust me on that one.

We were lucky with the hurricane. It turned away from us (and the Tampa area) south of us a bit- around 90 minutes or so before we were expecting the first waves to come rolling into our neighborhood. Thank God. In the end, that saved a huge amount of damage and probably lives with it. Category 4 hurricanes are no laughing matter, and it's caused massive damage in the places it did roll through (I got to see some of it up close and personal today) and it's some frightening stuff, let me tell you. My heart goes out to those that lost their homes and/or loved ones (and sadly, there are a lot of those).

It's still early, and reports are still coming in. Some of the very first reports that we got were saying that there was a possibility of hundreds dead where the storm hit, but thankfully those proved highly inaccurate. Right now the official count is sitting at 15, but there are numerous reports that the count near where it hit would go up quite a bit. Several different reporters, interviewing a couple of county officials and one representative at one of the hospitals said that could possibly go up by 100, or more, though one put the number at "hopefully in the dozens." Add that to damage estimates begining at $5 billion (though some are saying $15) and the huge amount of damaged area, and it's pretty bad all the way around. But it could have been much worse.

What's really irritating is the few people who call it a minor storm that didn't do much. Of course they're not living anywhere near the area, and are basically getting their information from people that weren't near the damage... So they think that sums it up. Maybe if they saw the devastation around, or actually had some regard for the lives lost. But to many seem to feel that if it doesn't affect them directly, then it's not a big deal. Try to tell that to the 1000's without homes, schools, businesses, etc, or those that know them, and you'll get a different picture. But then some can't seem to handle anything that might differ with their view of the world- even if it isn't based on reality. They'd rather play video games.

But that's only one storm I've had to deal with, and it turned out to be the easy one. You've seen my talking a bit about it here, or at least alluding to it in some spots. So I'll be a bit more blunt.

I don't know what the heck it is with this one guy, but for the last 2 months he's had some sort of personal thing with me. Seems I can't say anything without having to comment on it, or, better yet, taking cheap shots at me when he could. Tried to talk with him privately about it and got cussed out, shoved off, and treated extremely rudely. Well, that's changed now to outright public bashing, comments about "everyone is talking about you" with no one else talking to me. So either he's lying (which honestly wouldn't shock me) or several people who I thought were friends would rather listen to this guy trash talk me rather than actually talk to me. Even when I've avoided conversations anywhere near him, and haven't really talked in over a week where he would be around, sure enough the first time I make a comment there he is slamming me again. Especially irritating when I was talking about what we were dealing with during the hurricane and the bits of information we were getting as we were getting it. Adn with him nowhere near it, and not having any clue what was going on except second or third hand, he still made it a point to criticise and slam me. Oh, and of course accompanied with another nice, "friendly" email being sure to insult and deride me all the way through.

Talk about a load of garbage. The worst part is, since this guy is "close friends" with most of the others on the staff at this place, it's really pointless for me to say anything as regardless of what it is, or how true it might be, they're not going to pay attention as long as this guy's lips are flapping. To them he can practically do no wrong, and his history of trashing people and inflaming fights, as well as putting of his so called friends over the years means nothing. They just don't see it.

So I quit. I've had it. I can say nothing about anything in this place without him making it his duty to find a way to criticize or attack me with it (and, of course, plead innocent while doing it) and one of them popping in comments that make it look ok, while then telling me that people shouldn't comment the way he is. Funny, I ask if I can respond the way he does, and am told no, people shouldn't do that and to take the high road. Yet he makes the comments and there's this same guy supporting him. Fine. I don't need it.

I'll be honest. It hurts. And it makes me mad- extremely angry, to see this kind of BS. And to see them continuing on. The worst part is, I know my leaving will mean nothing to them, and they still won't see the crap they're pulling on me, won't change it a bit, and won't hesitate to do it to someone else later on. Which is a real pity. But I've dealt with it as long as I can, and far more than I desired to. So goodbye WC. Trust me, at this point, you really won't be missed.

Well, from one drama to another. If you haven't heard about hurricane Charley yet, turn on the news. For me, it's going to be up close and personal. My first hurricane- but at this point it's an experience that I would be just as happy skipping.

So here I am, just east of Tampa, waiting for a category 3 hurricane to hit us full on tomorrow afternoon. And depending on which model you look at, we'll either be right under the eye, or just east of it a little bit. Great fun.

So I've been running around the last 2 days buying water, canned food and other stuff that doesn't need cooking, and trying to make sure that we've got everything stocked and ready to go to sit it out. To say that I'm nervous would be an understatement, and I have a feeling that I won't be sleeping much tonight.

So lets see now, I've been locked out and on my front porch when a tornado hit my apartment complex. Lived in CA long enough to get some quakes- especially when I was in Santa Cruz for 3 years. Watched a plane crash at an airshow. And now I'm going to be stuck in a major hurricane. Can I say that I'm getting sick of disasters? :)

The worst part is, I really want to be writing about the theme parks and stuff, but it just ain't happening. Maybe I'll have to shoot for making a run up to Busch Gardens in the couple of days after the storm and see if I can report on their clean up and how they came through it. We'll see.

Getting late, but just need to get a peeve or two off of my back before I go to bed. So forgive me if I spout a bit.

First, people who will talk behind your back, but don't have the courage, guts, or decency to say something to you. I'm the type that if I've got something to say to someone, I'll say it to them first, and try to do it privately first so as not to cause them embarresment or anything like that. But to many people won't do that. I've got someone telling me that people are talking about me for something that happened, and yet not one of these other people, whoever they may be, have said a thing to me. Course if the person telling me that originally holds true, it wouldn't be the first time he was full of it. But the only other person I've talked to about it, I went to them first. So would love to know what this grand conversation is, and why these people couldn't be bothered to talk to me first about it if they're actually talking, wondering, or whatever.

The second part is frustrating especially to me, because I want to talk, and spout, yell about some things that have happened that have really insulted and offended me, yet I'm not really in a position to do so for a variety of reasons. I'm frustrated though because questions were asked, I answered in a polite, respectful manner, and others get ticked. I don't get it. Why get in a discussion about something if you're not willing to have others discuss what you say and disagree with you? And sadly it doesn't end with that, but I won't go into more detail. It'll just get me upset, offended, and plain ticked off again. Just frustrating when people insist that you should do something you're already doing, when they themselves refuse to do the same, or see the ones around them that won't do it.

Ok, time to leave that stupidity and idiocy behind. I've had enough of that garbage over the last few days, and it's making me rethink some things abit, but I'm going to leave it for now.

Job front is looking better. Not for the teaching yet, but that'll come in time. But looks like I might be able to get a job at the local bookstore, which would work out well. Especially since it's something that I already know pretty well. Just have to see how that works out. In any case, I'll leave wishing you a lot more peace than I've had lately. :)

First a quick note to anyone reading this. As you read, be sure to check the dates of my posts. With my move that took place at the end of June/ early July, it's been awhile since I managed to get back here and make a new post. Over a month and a half to be exact. So realize that much of what I wrote about in other posts is in the past and has been put behind me. :) Hope that clarifies a couple of things.

And it has been a busy time. I started driving from CA to FL on June 25th, arrived in FL on July 9th, movers arrived on the 12th, which meant a lot of time unpacking. My wife also arrived on the 12th, and she went to work the next day, which has kept her quite busy and me with the kids while trying to unpack, get a job, etc. Feel like I've been going a bit nuts.

Been one of those deals with work to. No joke, I missed multiple teaching jobs coming in the day after, or in one case 2 hours, after they had hired for the spot I was applying for. Talk about frustrating. And now that school has started (yesterday, can you believe it?) the schools are on a temporary hiring freeze. So looks like I get to start out subbing for a while first- once I can actually get the application in, then do a 3 day training session that isn't paid for. Ouch.

But we're slowly settling in. The apartment is wonderful, much nicer than our old place. Margaret and the kids lover their school so far, and we've found an excellent church. And as we get settled into a bit of a routine, hopefully I can be a bit better about keeping this updated.