CycloneMan

Don't mind me, just sneaking through

Don't mind me, just sneaking through

That's my exact opinion

Batman Nitro Superman Kingda Ka El Toro Green Lantern That's it I believe

Batman Chiller TDK Nitro GASM SUF Green Lantern Medusa/Bizarro Viper Toro Ka Flume

Back in April, GM's Test Track at EPCOT was closed for good and was planned to have a major renovation. Test Track now sponsored by Chevrolet, is scheduled to reopen December 6th to the public. Today (12/1/12) the attraction soft opened for Walt Disney World Cast Members and their families. The attraction has been doing testings the last few weeks with volunteer Cast Members as riders (myself included). But today we were allowed to go in and take pictures. So I present to you, one of the first looks at the new version of Test Track. The new entrance for Test Track 2.0 Couldn't gen a picture of the area entrance due to us entering behind the construction wall ;)/> Into the new queue. The entire building is unrecognizable. The line splits into 4 different design studios where you'll design your car. The five of us will be riding a few times tonight. Left to Right: Lauren, myself, Joy, Jackie and Patrick. The design studio. You are given a card, and you scan your card to activate the design station. Lauren designing our car. Patrick, Jackie and Joy. After the design studio, you go down a hall way towards the station. ...don't mind Lauren jumping into my frame. So the new design of the ride is you are in a computer based simulation automotive design. The loading station is much smaller than it was before. Pretty different. Here's where you scan your card before boarding your car. During the ride, there are screens along the path that'll tell you how your car is holding up. The next batch of photos will be blurry, being they're taken on my cell phone. While you're at the seat belt check, you can tell the ride's going to be really dark. The up hill incline. The downhill slope is no longer a rough roads test. Now it's supposed to be an ice slope. So now you just slide down slowly. Product placement activated! The ride layout is EXACTLY the same as before. However, there is no real story line, nor anything to tell you what's going on in the ride. Contrary to popular belief, this ride is NOT Tron themed ;)/> Random city...? Well...it's pretty What used to be the temperature chambers are now scanners. Checking our aerodynamics. The hill climb is basically the same, except now it's computerized. After the truck gag (yup, still there. Updated, but still there), you get an over view of your tests. Yea...it's blurry. The launch track is pretty cool. It starts changing designs, and the lights along the ground start lighting up. Outside is just like before. However it is the most boring part of the ride. There's honestly nothing to it. There's no audio. No dialogue. No show elements. It's very underwhelming after all the enhancements inside the building. Ride's over. As you see on the exit signs in station, they've brought the original World of Motion logo back to the ride. Along with the new Test Track logo. At the exit, you can check how your car tested. In this room, you can take your car and make a commercial. You will also be able to test drive it. Just like the old Test Track, you can still buy a car! The gift shop at the exit really didn't change that much. Overall, we all have mixed feelings about the new Test Track. There really isn't any sort of story line. And with the story line it has, it's hard to follow. A lot of elements in the attraction were taken out for "pretty things" as we called out. The attraction feels unfinished. With that being said, the attraction isn't officially opened to the public yet. So we shall see how it does. -Dainan "I enjoyed it" Rafferty

This is more of just photos than an actual Photo Trip Report. But if you have read any of my trip reports, you know I take photos of everything and then just put captions. So, I don't really need to do more. 10/26/12 First day of the trip I chose this to be the first photo because...well, I knew the girls would kill me if I posted this. The trip consisted of myself, my room mate Jackie (left) and one of our good friends Lauren. Here they are putting air in Jackie's tires before we leave Orlando. After about a 7 hour drive, we made it to our motel, which we dubbed "The Rape Motel," down the road from Six Flags Over Georgia. We chose this motel because it was cheap and in walking distance from the park. As you can see, it was really for us to not get lost on our way from the Rape Motel. The three of us ended up buying season passes for 2013. The 2013 season passes were discounted $20 off because we live out of state and included free parking and admission to all SF parks. It cost us a total of $45. Our original plan for the trip was to do SFOG Friday night and all of Saturday. Then hit up Wild Adventures (ugh) on the way back to Orlando, but because we ended up with the season passes, we just stayed at SFOG the whole weekend. We first started on Georgia Cyclone (no pics) and then went on Acrophobia a few times. There was no wait for it. In fact, the lines all weekend weren't really that bad. Georgia Cyclone at night. A view of the Promenade/Main Entrance area at night. Dare Devil Dive Lauren was excited to ride it, being it's the only coaster in the park she hadn't ridden yet. Our first night group shot. Left to right; Jackie, Lauren, Me and Michelle. Michelle is a friend of ours who we've worked with in Orlando. She lives in Atlanta, so she took the time to come out and see us. This was one of many stupid things we saw Six Flags Over Georgia employees do. It's hard to tell in the photo, but an employee was having guests go over the railing and walk through the trees to get to the other side of the path to open the queue. This was so the guests wouldn't have to walk around. ....what!? Between the four of us, we have worked at 9 different theme parks. We couldn't handle this Kind of blurry, but here's a photo from inside Monster Mansion, Six Flags Over Georgia's dark ride. And yes, cameras are allowed on the ride Lauren and I enjoying our ride. Jackie and Michelle also love Monster Mansion You can even sing along! Click to hear the song. We sure will. But not yet. This is the only picture we got of it. But we got to see SFOG's version of Dead Man's Party which is very much like SFGAv's. However, the show is inside of the Crystal Pistol Music Hall. And the performers actually sing. There it is, the beast of any Vekoma coasters, Ninja. Ninja is currently running with two of GASM's old trains. However, it is still one of the roughest steel looping coasters in the world. We'll end day one with a ride on the Dhalonega Mine Train. 10/27/12 Got in over 40 rides in one day Welcome to the Guest Inn, our luxurious motel. I...I don't even know... You can see why we felt completely comfortable here. This room was down from us. Lauren and I showing of the room. This was next to the building. This is where the Demon lives We started our day on Mindbender! We may have easily ridden this about 20 times with out getting up. This is my number 1 steel coaster in the world. This was also the last weekend for the Wheelie, the park's Schwarzkopf Enterprise. Jackie loves her Enterprises The girls posing with the beautiful entry to the Cotton State Exposition. The time has come to the Ninja Challenge: Pain-A-Thon! What this consisted of was, we had to marathon on the Ninja until some one in our group gave up. The penalty was, the first one off had to buy the $10 Apple Pumpkin Spiced Funnel Cake later. As you see, there is no line. Because no on in the right mind should ride this. Hello there old friend. This Great American Scream Machine from Great Adventure's old red train painted black. Unfortunately they took the old Arrow restraints and replaced them with the hard new Vekoma restraints. ....sigh. Lauren and Jackie seem pretty ready for the Ninja. This facial expression is about right. After 9 times on Ninja, Lauren and I gave in. Which means this freak won. Lauren driving us on the Hanson Ride. Jackie and I enjoying the old vintage cars. Lauren and I on the Review Carousel. Jackie on her horse. Alright, time to give in and buy this. It was really good The girls pose with their favorite drop tower. This may have been one of the stupidest advertisements we saw the entire trip. We gave there Haunted House a try. It was good. Not the best, not the worst. Honestly we have nothing to really say about it other than it was alright. "Is it time to go back to the plantation yet?" Monster Mansion used to be called Monster Plantation. In 2007 they gave it an upgrade and added some new effects. In this layover, they also renamed the ride. The monsters were also dressed for Halloween. Wait! Which Six Flags are we at again? Six Flags Over Georgia had this strange simulator for Fright Fest called Last Ride You get in a coffin... They close it. And everyone can watch you in it. Lauren giving it a try Jackie's turn. The attraction had some potential to be terrifying, but it was just...meh. Overall, we didn't like it. It tosses you around like you're in the back of a hearse. You get lowered into the ground. You hear them burying you. And finally you hear bugs crawling in. It smelled like dead roses and embalming fluid. Overall, not a good attraction. Lauren and I will be hosting your Tommy-knocker meet and greet Deep in thought. Is it about Big Thunder Mountain? Or is it about food? Okay, it's food time. This Jackie's favorite of the ridiculous Six Flags adds. That's pretty awesome! Vekoma coasters, so evil. Yet, so pretty. A random shot of Wheelie at night. Why not? The Great American Scream Machine is pretty awesome at night. It may not be the smoothest coaster, but it's a whole lot of fun. The bunny hills at the end create some awesome air time. It's a great way to the end the night. Back at the Rape Motel, we got some new quality sheets for our bed. 10/28/12 Last day of our mini vacation The next morning we woke up to this alarm clock on Jackie's phone. You have to know us to fully understand us It's the last day of the season, and as you see. The Rape Motel is really poppin. Relax, it's being held together by a rope. Seriously... It was really cold for us Floridians. We layered up. Back at Six Flags Over Georgia, we started off by marathoning on Mindbender again. There's no other better way than to start any day. We rode every coaster in the park, including Ninja. This is Great Adventure's GASM's old blue train. Why yes there is a Big Mo on the Square Our last coaster of the trip was going to be the Georgia Cyclone (which was running great btw). But while we were in the station, us, and a few other guests noticed that one of the wooden bracing on the supports came detached from the rest of the structure. You couldn't see it while the ride wasn't running, but when a train went passed it, you saw it sway freely. They quickly closed the ride and immediately started inspections. I was really proud of the way the ride crew handled it. They did a great job. On the way out I saw this shirt. I know a certain some one who would love this We decided to walk back to the parking lot and take some photos of the coasters on our way out. Goliath and Georgia Scorcher. We rode Goliath about a dozen times during the trip. Including a night time ride in the front row. It was pretty perfect. We only rode Georgia Scorcher once during our trip. Fun ride. Not the best, but not the worst. It's no Riddler's Revenge, that's for use It is also very smooth. The parking lot is really the only place you can get good pictures of Mindbender. Mindbender has amazing airtime and g forces. Schwarzkopf really knew how to make them. And of course, Batman the Ride is always good as well. The 8th wonder of the world, the back side of Batman The Ride. The last picture of the trip. Jackie trying to get a picture of all three of us while I was driving back to Orlando, FL. Overall, we had a fantastic weekend. The three of us needed this little get a way from Orlando, and it was very well worth it. Also, most of these photos are from Jackie and Lauren. So I need to give some thanks to them as well -Dainan "See you next year Six Flags" Rafferty

Hahaha! Wow. There's one of many pictures of me I'll never live down . It would be pretty awesome if this is true. As much as I love the nostalgia of the skid brakes, the buzz bars, and the manual operation of the ride. It desperately needs an update. Not to mention that a new braking system and trains would help with the ride's efficiency

Six Flags Over Georgia in two more days!

Finally going to sleep after being up for 22 hours!

^I don't wanna talk about it This song has been stuck in my head lately and I haven't heard it maybe 5 years

Day 8, 7/2/12 Our last full day of the trip - Disneyland Resort We got to Disney California Adventure just as the park opened at 8 so we can get some stuff in Cars Land done. Luckily for us, we were meeting up with our friend Robbie again this day, and he got to the park before us and got in line to get Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers. So we found him in line and handed him our park tickets in order to get Fast Passes. Our Fast Passes were distributed 8 minutes after the park opened, and they're not good until 2 hours and 10 minutes after the park opened! Fast Pass Return doesn't open till about a half hour after the park opens, so the first time distributed for was 8:40. Needless to say, they were out of Fast Passes fairly quickly. We also got a nifty surprise Fast Pass for California Screamin'. Disney puts surprise Fast Passes in their machines for attractions that need the attention. Like here in Florida, our Surprise Fast Passes in Magic Kingdom are for Mickey's Phillhar Magic and Carousel of Progress. With that being said, you can tell how the rest of the park is suffering with the news Cars Land. In fact, we never saw California Screamin' over a 15 minute wait the entire time we were there. Our first ride of the day was Luigi's Flying Tires. I've never seen Cars. But the story telling isn't hard to fallow. One of Jackie's, "Hey Dainan, smile!" It's hard to tell, but I think Robbie might like Disney. Patrick, Jackie and Robbie. Something tells me one of them is not completely awake. Probably the lack of coffee. If you look closely, you can see Carl from Up in line for Luigi's Flying Tires. Luigi's Flying Tires uses hover craft technology to move the vehicles. You move the vehicles with your body movement. They gave us a "pizza" to tell the Cast Member who's loading us that we are in the same party. Basically it's bumper cars with giant beach balls that you throw at each other. Really weird, and really fun. Patrick and I are ready to go. Jackie and Robbie are ready to go as well. After Luigi's, we ate breakfast at Flo's and then headed over to Paradise Pier. I wish a vendor would hand me a coke in such a fashion. Patrick and I ready for yet another fantastic ride on California Screamin'. Our fabulous on ride photo. Nerd shot of their unload console. Robbie and I after another ride on California Screamin'. Afterwards, we made our way down Paradise Pier to get on the Golden Zephyr. On the way we stopped because Robbie wanted to play some games. Go get em Robbie! Robbie won a plush Goofy. Golden Zephyr was closed when we got over to it the day before because of high winds. Fun little relaxing ride. Because we are all 12, we played in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Robbie and I making our way up the nets. Shaky bridge.... We started the Wilderness Explorer activity map. But we really just did it to get the stickers. Next up we did Grizzly River Rapids The theming was really nice. It was a fun rapids ride. It ended with a nice splash Goofy disapproves of Patrick's statement. It was time for our Fast Passes so we went back over to Radiator Springs Racers. The queue was massive. Robbie, Jackie, Patrick and I excited to ride Radiator Springs Racers again. It was funny to us. It was like seeing an alternate reality Test Track. Patrick's ready to do this. Alright, here we go. You exit the ride into the middle of the race. Our on ride photo. I stopped at Cozy Cone on the way out of Cars Land and tried the Fillmore’s Fuelin’ Groovy Ades. Mine was pomegranate limeade with lemon-lime foam. We park hopped over to Disneyland for lunch. We hopped on the train to New Orleans Square. Oh hey Cody! What time are you off? 6? Alright, see ya then We did the Haunted Mansion again. Why not? Who doesn't love the Haunted Mansion? Oh hey there Splash Mountain. Maybe we'll actually ride you in the day time today. But we'll get a Fast Pass. The nice thing about park hopping at Disneyland is that the parks are ridiculously close together. On the way out of DCA, we got Fast Passes for Soarin' and then we got Splash Mountain fast passes. The significance of this is, you can't hold more than one Fast Pass at a time in the same park. In Florida it's nearly impossible to park hop around Fast Pass times, but in California it's like walking from one section of the park to the other. Yea...we're nerds. We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear. A Country Bear Jamboree themed restaurant! Yes please! We sat right on the Rivers of America, so we made some new friends. Here's Patrick and his new friend. As you can tell, he looks really happy to see him I may have been more excited about this than I should have been. But hey, if you've ever spent as much time around the Country Bear Jamboree as I have, you'd be excited too! Here's something guests can't do in Florida anymore. The Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. We still have them in Florida, but they're for Cast Members only Ah, the Columbia. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to ride it on this trip. I guess this just means I need to go back to Disneyland Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Alright, I'm excited for alternate reality Tom Sawyer Island. The raft trip over to Tom Sawyer Island is much shorter here than in Florida. The rafts are also designed differently. But I guess the "average" guest wouldn't really notice that. ' This was neat. Tom Sawyer Island has a tree house on it. Point goes to Florida. I wasn't a big fan of Tom Sawyer Island Pirates Layer. A lot of things on the Island were closed of permanently (ie, the Fort). Spending a lot of time on Tom Sawyer Island in Florida, I can understand why Disneyland's Tom Sawyer Island is the way it is now. But it just felt incomplete. After Tom Sawyer Island, we went back to Disney California Adventure to see the Phineas and Ferb Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party. It was cute. We are immature Phineas and Ferb fans, so we were excited to see it. I wish we had this show instead of Disney Channel Rocks at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was time for our Soarin' Fast Passes. To be completely honest, none of us really care for Soarin', but we did it anyway to compare it to the one at EPCOT. The queue and over all atmosphere in California's was different. DCA's Soarin' basically takes place in a Hanger and has a vintage Aviator theme going on. While EPCOT's Soarin' makes you feel like you're at a modern airport. To our amusement, the film was in worse shape than Florida's. We left DCA through the Grand Californian and took the monorail from Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland. Abandoned Peoplemover track next to the Monorail. Jackie is the only one out of the group who had been to Disneyland before the trip. Her favorite ride as a kid was not the Peoplemover, but Rocket Rods. Rocket Rods was basically Test Track on the Peoplemover track. The track wasn't designed to have high speed vehicles on it, and after many technical issues and structural damage, Rocket Rods closed forever. There have been many rumors about future plans to bring back the Peoplemover in some form, but as of now. Nothing has happened. We will see what happens in the next few years. While we are on the subject of abandoned Disneyland rides, we went into Innoventions which was originally Carousel of Progress. "Temperature increased to 975. Overload-- overload..." Jackie and I are big Carousel of Progress fans. So we really excited when we found the split in the floor for the rotation. Yes, we really took this many photos of and with it. Patrick and Robbie were totally judging us the entire time. Okay, this is the last one. We had to get to Toontown quick because it closes early for the fireworks. Our last coaster of the trip was Gadget's Go Coaster. This was the first of three Vekoma Roller Skaters Disney purchased for it's parks. The problem with the Roller Skaters is that they're designed to run only one train, which Disney parks can't handle. After this, Tokyo Disneyland's and Magic Kingdom's Roller Skaters were redesigned to be able to run two trains at once to increase capacity. Another ride on the Matterhorn, why not? Believe it or not, this was Robbie's first time on the Matterhorn. The rest of the evening we spent running around doing our favorite rides, so we don't have that many photos. But we did snap this one at the Jungle Cruise. Kissimmee Kate. The relevance of this is that we live in Kissimmee, Florida. Well, on the boarder, but Patrick actually lives there. At this point we met back up with Cody and his friend Katie. They basically grabbed dips on their seats on Splash Mountain so I got stuck in the front. Now, from this picture, you'd think I was scared. Incorrect. I was angry because I was drenched from head to toe from Drop 2! So I was not looking forward to the splash at the bottom of the drop. Yea....you get nowhere near as wet on Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World than you do in Disneyland. We spent a good chunk of the night re riding Disneyland's awesome Space Mountain! I ran into my friend Kris working at Space Mountain. Jackie and Patrick in line for Space Mountain. Cody in line for Space Mountain. Robbie and I in line for Space Mountain. At Star Traders in Tomorrowland, Jackie spotted this bag. Hmmmm We ended our night at Big Thunder Mountain. During the trip, we all got photos with our west coast version of our rides. Big Thunder Mountain is the only attraction the three of us all worked together in Walt Disney World. Jackie and I have been friends since we were teenagers, but working together is how we met Patrick. So it was the perfect way to end our trip. Day 9, 7/3/12 Last day - lame attempt at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the same day Our flight back east was around noon, so we took a quick trip to Downtown Disney for some last minute shopping. Lego Store shot in the day light. We ended our Disneyland adventure in World of Disney....where we ended up not buying anything. Good bye California. Only 6 hours till we are back in Orlando. Lay over in Texas, almost home. We made it back to Orlando, and we stopped by Downtown Disney in Walt Disney World before going home (We live just outside of Property, so it wasn't really out of our way). We did this just so we can say we did both Walt Disney World and Disneyland in the same day. Though it was both Downtown Disney, it still counts. Thanks for reading -Dainan "Planning my next trip already" Rafferty