TR: Florida Weekend Part 1C: Islands of Adventure (JPRA, Duelling Dragons, TGI Friday's)
tv's Spatch
So I'm sittin' in my office and I've reached a block in a particularly
nasty piece of code. My brain's shut off Perl-wise yet my fingers
want to keep typing. I look over at Sock Puppy, a little mascot of
mine, who is perched on one end of my Random Object shelf with the
color-changing Silly Putty, opaque plastic paperweight celebrating 40
years of DIGITAL innovation and customer service (which I found in the
office when I moved in), Authentic Chunk Of Wood From Excalibur, a
phone receiver attached to nothing, Button Guy buttons from various
events gone by, a framed Aerial Perspectives picture of Excalibur and
Star Wars Lego. Sock Puppy looks rather deflated without a hand up
his arse to make him move and talk, but he looks on with button-eyed
interest.
"Hey, Sock Puppy, " I say at random.
"Yeah, Wob?" he replies in a deep goofy dawg voice only I can hear.
"I think I'm gonna finish my trip reports now."
"Well, yuh better write real fast, then get back to that code. It's a
do-o-ozy!"
It is very comforting to know that in this uncertain day and age, I
can still find my voice of conscience in a homespun sock puppet dog.
-.-
After getting completely drenched on the Bilge-Rat Barges and then
splashed around again on Dudley Do-Right, the RRC contingent I was
hanging around with decided to head over to Dueling Dragons and dry
off the Inverted way. Mark McKenzie pointed us in the direction of
the Jurassic Park River Adventure first, promising we "wouldn't get
wet at all."
Grumble, grumble, we've heard this one before, pull the other one,
it's longer. Most grumbles stopped, however, when we noticed the ride
was a complete walk-on. All logic is thrown out the window when
you're presented with an immediate ride ("It tastes better cause it's
free!") and so we all piled into the big yellow-orange boat. We only
saw a few seconds of the OVERLY PERKY JURASSIC PARK TV SHOW HOST, but
I'd come to know her a bit better on Monday.
So! This is the centerpiece for the Jurassic Park island. And, oddly
enough, this is the one place where IOA falters. The ride is indeed
fun, but there are so many odd or off elements to it that just did not
leave me in the same awe-filled state that every other ride in the
park left me with. I feel a bit sad, since I know IOA can do much
better in this regard, but here at Jurassic Park, it looked as if they
may have gone over-budget or something. (I realize Dudley Do-Right
isn't complete, so perhaps they plan on rehabilitating/finishing the
rides as soon as they can. I hope they've made enough money to do
so!) As in the tradition of purposefully including a mistake just to
prove you are not perfect (eliminating the risk of offending your
perfect god) it appears that IOA has included the JORA in its current
incarnation to make sure we know that nothing can be perfect. IOA
is, however, as close to perfect as we'd ever want.
The boat ride starts with an impossibly steep climb. Right off the
bat you're hauled up this incline and then let go to drift in the
Jurassic Park River. A nutty ponderous narration starts about the
march of time and whatnot as we round a corner, only to find ourselves
at the gates of Jurassic Park, which then theoretically swing open
with the majestic music playing in full force. Only we had been
dispatched too soon after the previous boat, so the doors were still
open. And then, to the bombastic John Williams fanfare, they swung
shut. And stayed shut. And remained, impassable, until our boat
smashed through and wrecked 'em and we all got hurt by shards of
broken wood.
Well, not really. The doors finally opened just as our boat passed
through, and the on-board narration continued as if nothing happened.
Phew! That sure was a close one! Our first trip to Jurassic Park and
we're menaced by LARGE DOORS!
Of course, what did the wooden doors finally swing open to
majestically reveal? A non-working dinosaur in the water. Its head
was bent low, mouth and eyes wide open, inert and immobile as we
passed by. The narration mentioned these dinosaurs in plural, yet we
only saw that one, and it certainly wasn't doing a good job of being
singularly alive. This is not a good sign, by the way -- our first
view of a dinosaur in Jurassic Park and it's broken. Unfortunately we
started making fun of it ("Mommy, why is dat dinosaur not moving? Is
he dead?") and set the tone for the rest of the ride.
We rounded a corner and found other, actually moving, dinosaurs. I
never realized that when re-created from DNA and allowed to roam
freely, most dinosaurs enjoy standing in one place and moving their
heads around a lot, but hey, anything can happen at Jurassic Park. A
geyser goes off for no apparent reason as we look at the pretty
dinosaurs. It's actually a wonderful geyser trick because the water
arcs up high and slowly hangs there before splashing down on us. You
get a few great agonizing seconds watching that water come down, and
knowing you really can't get out of the way. What fun!
I was worried the stegosaur would splash us with his large tail (or
even swing it hard and send a few of us flying), but no such luck.
He, too, was more than content to just sit on his rock and move his
head from time to time. We headed safely for Hadrosaur Cove until a
pesky Hadrosaur pops up and somehow makes the guided track switch from
the SAFE ROUTE into the UNSAFE ROUTE.
It is here I noticed a nice detail, however -- as you're bumped off
your course and head towards evil raptor-infested waters, you can hear
the "narration" of the safe route continue as if nothing was wrong. I
liked that. Todd Long, on the other hand, was positively furious.
This was at least the third time he'd ridden the JPRA, and not one
single time had he made it safely to Hadrosaur Cove. Todd really just
wanted to see the hadrosaurs, dammit! (Todd eventually complained to
a ride operator about this. I can only imagine what the op thought.)
So around the dangerous parts we go, up a long slow kindascary lift
hill. The raptor cage stunt wasn't working, unless just passing
underneath is supposed to be the scary trick. Then some raptors jump
out at us, and unless they're not working as properly as they used to,
I noticed no such ferocity as had been described by earlier TR-goers.
There wasn't even much of a shock as they came up, which is what I had
been expecting. Even the toppling Zeus statue at Escape From Pompeii
freaks me out more.
The sound effect for the T-Rex's slash is still in place, but the
aftereffects of his slashing a scrim (I mean, metal door) are hardly
seen. The spitters pop up and, as advertised, do spit us with water
"that must've come from Riverside's Shipwreck Falls if it's so
venomous."
Then finally we come to the big drop, and who's ready to see us over
than ol' T-Rex himself! Unfortunately, since we'd been dispatched too
early, Rex hadn't had the time to go back into his fog-enshrouded
enclave. So he didn't exactly pop out at us as we teetered over the
edge, but he did roar a lot and wave his little useless arms about
wildly. Go T-Rex! Get it on! Bang a gong! Yeah!
The final drop is a fine one, though. Probably the best part of the
ride if you don't count the INCREDIBLY SCARY DOORS THAT MIGHT NOT
OPEN. And, Mark was right -- we didn't get wet. Well, not all that
wet. You won't escape from the JPRA bone-dry, but you won't be
soaked, neither. Or perhaps it's all relative considering how soaked
we were prior to boarding.
So, off we went to Duelling Dragons for some drying-off time. Walking
through JP, we noticed tables being set up for some private function.
Mark noted that IOA is more than happy to close off certain islands
for private functions, provided you can pony up somewhere around
$64,000 (at least that's the figure that stuck in my head somewhere.)
Looks like Mark & Susan will have to have their wedding reception at
Family Funways after all.
I was thrilled to ride Duelling Dragons in the day but at night they
really impressed the hell out of me. Even with the surrounding
ambient light, the Dragons performed their acrobatic aerial maneuvers
in their dark little corner of the world. Equally impressive were the
group of lights near the interlocked corkscrews -- red around Fire's
turnaround, and blue near Ice's. Sweet.
I met up with Stephanie "Stealyourface" (great domain name, btw) and
we ended up closing out the evening on the dragons. By an unofficial
unscientific estimate (and I stress the 'unscientific' part), we rode
Fire Dragon about fifty zillion times and Ice, oh, I don't know,
eighty-two million times. Enough times to make me lose count, at
least!
Near closing time, though, we overheard a vocal group of folks arguing
with an op at Ice's baby swap door. Looks like they were closing the
Dragons somewhat early for the private function, and nobody was very
happy with this. I understand the frustration involved with not
getting some last rides in, but during one point of the argument,
someone said "But we're roller coaster enthusiasts! Let us in."
Whoah! Bad mojo. Spatch no like. Let me explain.
I do indeed consider myself a roller coaster enthusiast, have the
cards to prove it, and enjoy special perks parks sometimes offer to
ensure they've got the Enthusiast Dollar rolling in. And while I've
requested permission to join certain gatherings given for enthusiasts
(Riverside's ERT, Great Adventure's 'grand reopening' media day), I've
never asked for special treatment past a park's defined limits. And
I've never demanded special treatment solely because I like the
coasters more than an average member of the general public.
And neither should you. It's that simple. We should not demand
things simply because we are enthusiasts -- especially not a case like
a ride's closing slightly early to accomodate someone else who's
already requested certain treatment (and brought the money to complete
the deal... sad but true. Money talks.) I don't know exactly who
piped up with "But we're enthusiasts, let us in", but it set my teeth
on edge and I wasn't very happy. For one, I wasn't exactly thrilled
to be considered part of a group whose representative was whining at a
ride op who, for all we know, was just doing his or her job.
Especially not if the ride op goes "Oh, great, MORE enthusiasts" the
next time s/he meets some. It was pretty rotten to hear such an awful
example being set. Periodically throughout the day, RRCers had been
treated very kindly by IOA employees - I hear some folks got
back-doored into Ripsaw Falls, we were supposedly going to get the
same for Poseidon's Fury. It wasn't like the park was deliberately
oppressing us by closing the Dragons early (and it was something like
5 minutes early, too; we weren't going to get in 10 more rides or
anything). I dunno. I realize it was but one phrase and could very
well have been said in the heat of the moment, but it left a rotten
sour taste in my mouth as we left the Lost Continent and tried to
regroup with the rest of the RRCers.
Fortunately the sour taste in my mouth was gone by the time we hit the
Croissant Moon bakery. I don't really know who started this, but it's
already become a tradition for me to grab some cookies 'n milk on my
way out of IOA. The humongous chocolate chip cookies at Croissant
Moon are a true delight, especially when they're warm. Warm and gooey
and full of chocolaty cooky goodness! You simply must try some on
your way out of the park next time. You'll be making yummy noises all
through Citywalk.
After endless debate about where to eat (Jimmy Buffet's
Overpricedville had a waiting list to get ON the waiting list,
fercryinoutloud) a majority of RRCers settled upon the TGI Friday's
across the street from the Escape. This was the Friday's that was
attached to my hotel (the Holiday Inn says it's the largest TGI
Friday's in the entire universe, and while I'd believe it I guess I
just didn't see enough of it to notice.) We had a bit to wait,
so I went back to my room and changed into some dry clothes and tried
to dry off my jeans. I placed the on the bathroom door under the
extra-hot heat lamp they put in the bathroom so my shower is
extra-warm. This was not a good idea. When I saw my pants were
beginning to smoke, I quickly turned the light off. So don't you try
it, neither.
Oh, and I also found where Friday's kept the helium canister to
inflate their birthday balloons. Fun for minutes.
Our group was so large, even for the WORLD'S LARGEST FRIDAYS, that
they had to sit us across three separate booths. Even so, things were
jocular and wacky. We came up with a twist on the usual
vodka/cranberry juice drink (put ginger ale in it and it's ALMOST
cranberry dry!) and waited quite a bit for our food IIRC. Then a
waiter came up and almost surrepititiously tied a balloon to Mark
McKenzie's finger. Then, a little while later, another balloon
mysteriously appeared. And another. And another. And another,
until finally the restaurant staff paraded out and sang the same song
we'd heard about 40 times already that evening, but we sang along to
anyway.
I don't know but I've been told
Mark here is gettin old!
I don't know but it's been said!
Mark's face is turning red!
then something about dessert being free for Mark, and sound off, one
two, happy birthday, or something like that. Boy, was his face red.
And despite it all, he laughed the loudest of all of us. And then he
immediately accused Susan and/or Todd Long of setting it all up! I
think Susan was innocent, though. She loudly protested her innocence,
at least.
After the lengthy meal we split up and went our separate ways. I
think some folks went to Katanga on I-Drive or something, but me, I
was more than content to go back to the room and pass out dead asleep.
Lucky for me I had a room on the first floor, and even though I passed
by the video arcade with tons of fun flashy lights and nifty-sounding
games, sleep beckoned.
Tomorrow, who knew what would happen? Well, I did. Tomorrow would be
Disney Day.
NEXT: Tower! Rock! Muppets!
--
der Spatchel R. Noyes
Reading, MA 01867
http://spatch.ne.mediaone.net/ Turn the ! upside down to reply.
"This publisher is clearing house like I was Ed McMahon" - Chali 2na
Steve Nuss
op at Ice's baby swap door.
Just so no one has the blame littered on them, I'll step in and take the blame.
It was no one but myself who you describe. But, you describe in a wrong
way...
>I understand the frustration involved with not
>getting some last rides in
Actually, it wasn't this at all. It was the fact I promised a couple of people
we could ride one more time and still have time to get back in for the last
ride of the night in Fire front row. When they said we couldn't go back in, I
was frustrated with them for closing early, which, after the situation occured,
came to me I had no real basis to be angry, along with being angry about having
to break a promise with friends.
> but during one point of the argument,
>someone said "But we're roller coaster enthusiasts! Let us in."
I'm sorry, but, that was never said. I NEVER muttered that, and I never
would/will. I also know for a fact that no one else did, as well. You must
have heard wrong. But, that was never said, and I would never drop to any
level and say that.
>I've never asked for special treatment past a park's defined limits.
I wasn't asking for park's special treatment. Hell, it wasn't even the parks
defined limits! I understand that they closed early for people that paid
probably 5x as much as we did, but, that wasn't stated when people bought their
tickets/went into the park. Had it been, I would've understood. BUt, it
wasn't. This wasn't just for me, it was mostly for the people I was with, who
I'd promised to get one more ride.
>And neither should you. It's that simple. We should not demand
>things simply because we are enthusiasts -- especially not a case like a
ride's closing slightly early to accomodate someone else who's
>already requested certain treatment (and brought the money to complete the
deal... sad but true. Money talks.)
I didn't. I politely asked the op a few times if she could just let us go in
for one more ride. That was it. When she said no, yes, I cracked a bit, but,
I never stooped to asking for special treatment or demanding. Thing is. I
found out later that they let more people go in after us. Even right before
our eyes! After they told me that we couldn't go in because they were
'closed.'
>I don't know exactly who
>piped up with "But we're enthusiasts, let us in", but it set my teeth
>on edge and I wasn't very happy.
No one did. I'm sorry you had to think you heard that, because it wasn't said.
>It was pretty rotten to hear such an awful
>example being set.
What example? Nothing I said sterotyped our group as 'bad' because I wanted to
get a few friends in for one more ride, and didn't want to break a promise. I
know you did not know this at the time being, or even when you wrote this, but,
I wish you wouldn't have jumped to this conclusion.
>It wasn't like the park was deliberately oppressing us by closing the >Dragons
early (and it was something like 5 minutes early, too; we >weren't going to get
in 10 more rides or anything). I dunno. I realize >it was but one phrase and
could very well have been said in the heat >of the moment, but it left a rotten
sour taste in my mouth as we left >the Lost Continent and tried to regroup with
the rest of the RRCers.
I know we weren't, but, it was all about a promise. And not once did I put
myself up the woman as a GROUP. I did it as an individual. And, again, that
was never said, and I'm sorry you had to interpret that...
But, I do want to apologize to everyone who was there to witness, and everyone
as a whole. If someone saw this incident like Spatch did, than more people
must have seen it like this, as well. I'm sorry to everyone who did, and
again, everyone in general. I just hope you can all accept this and come to
the understanding of where I was coming from. It was not my intention to leave
a mark like this, but, it obviously happened, and I am no way proud of the
event.
For folks who I had the pleasure to meet for the first time that day, Spatch
included, I hope this event didn't leave you with a bad opinion of me, because,
that is the last thing I'd want. I'm not normally like that, until it comes to
friends and promises. Please understand.
Sincerely,
-Steve
(who promises nothing in the post was meant to be inflammatory towards Spatch,
and, again, apologizes if it comes across that way)
------------------------------
--#1 Steel: Rock n Roller Coaster
--#1 Wood: Gwazi Lion
--"FOR THE LOVE OF BENJI!"--Sean Flaharty
Evil One
still have time to get back in for the last
ride of the night in Fire front row. >>
Who in God's name do you think you are?
Steve, you are a little kid. A silly barely 16 year old. You have no authority
or power what-so-ever in your life.
Which brings me to wonder, who exactly do you think you are making promisses
that have nothing at all to do with anything YOU can deliever? It's not up to
you what time the park closes a ride. The park couldn't care less about you.
Especailly considering you barely ever go there, they're not going to bend to
please "your" guests.
And considering that these people didn't go to see YOU or be with YOU. You were
nothing but a little kid that hung around the group like a fly around filth. If
you made such a promise to the group it's only fitting that you were made an
ass of by the park. And personally, i'm glad to hear it.
Keep failing,
C
Steve Nuss
Steve Nuss.
>Steve, you are a little kid.
And you are a screwed up 'man' in college.
>A silly barely 16 year old.
A 'man' who has nothing better to do than sit around, betray people, attempt to
ruin people's good times, and be an all-around asshole.
> You have no authority
>or power what-so-ever in your life.
Over certain things, I do. Just to let you in on something...You don't have
NEARLY as much 'power' as you think you do. You go around here struting your
stuff like you're the best thing to come around in ages, acting like you're the
almighty god of RRC and the dictator of all of our lives. Want me to let you
in on something?
YOU'RE NOT. I don't care what you say about me. I don't care what you say
about my friends. IT DOESN'T MATTER. It has no influence whatsoever on my
life. And 99.9% of this group could give a damn about you, either. Which is
proven from the fact that 90% of those people have you kill-filed, you and all
your 3-4 screen names. And those other people probably a)are your 'friends',
which you'll probably end up betraying, b)Don't know your new e-mail, c)Like to
get a good laugh out of your self-proclaimed 'high status', or, what you, in
your twisted head, thinks is 'high status'. Keep thinking you're that God,
Chris. But, I'll tell you you're NOT.
>Which brings me to wonder, who exactly do you think you are making promisses
>that have nothing at all to do with anything YOU can deliever?
Read what I wrote again. And read it one more time, at least, for good
measure. I promised them that we could MAKE IT BACK in time, not that I could
get my way with the ride ops. I promised them we had enough time to catch a
ride and get back to hold out for front row. I never promised I could
over-authoritize the ride ops or workers. Never once did I say that.
>The park couldn't care less about you.
>Especailly considering you barely ever go there, they're not going to bend to
>please "your" guests.
I go/have been more than a lot of the people reading this message. Given I
haven't been nearly as much as some people, they sure have gotten their
deserved money from me. Albeit they probably don't give a damn about some
people, including me, doesn't mean squat to me. Because I know this already.
I wasn't "bending" or trying to "bend" the set rules. I promised my friends
that we would make it back in time to get another ride, not that I would get my
way with them.
>And considering that these people didn't go to see YOU or be with YOU. You
>were
>nothing but a little kid that hung around the group like a fly around filth.
A lot of the people I was with that weekend were my FRIENDS. Friends.
Read it again. FRIENDS. Yes, it may be hard to believe I can actually
maintain a friendship, at least to someone who seems hell bent on screwing up
other people's lives and betraying people who thought they were their friends.
I think you know who I am talking about.
>If
>you made such a promise to the group it's only fitting that you were made an
>ass of by the park. And personally, i'm glad to hear it.
I wasn't made an ass of. Instead, by posting what you did, and me posting this
rebuttal, I don't think I'm the one who had an ass made of himself...
-Steve
Sean Costa
Sean Costa (Remove Y2Kraken to reply.)
#1-Medusa #2-Incredible Hulk #3-Kumba #4-Apollo's Chariot #5-Alpengeist
Sean's Coaster Zone-www.homestead.com/eczenith/coasterzone.html
Sean Costa
Actually, I was the .1 percent that actually wanted to be its friend, until I
found out it doesn't deserve a friend. He can sit at home, and find fun in
being a jerk on RRC.
You see, the problem with Chris, is that it thinks he actually makes people
feel bad. How many of us laugh at it's foolishness, thinking he is the ruler of
this newsgroup? It isn't a god, or a ruler, let alone a person at all. To me,
Maliboomer aka Montu aka Kumba aka (Insert other screen names he thinks people
don't know here), is just words of comedy on the computer screen.
I don't hate Chris. I don't hate anyone in this world. My opinion of it
is just a thing that tries to make people feel bad. Hey, keep at it Chris, I
need a good laugh when I get home from school. It cheers me up to know that you
will never, ever, be anything of importance here, or anywhere else. You are
going to get what you deserve.
Have a nice life...
Rebel Transcanner
> You see, the problem with Chris, is that it thinks he actually makes people
> feel bad. How many of us laugh at it's foolishness, thinking he is the ruler of
> this newsgroup? It isn't a god, or a ruler, let alone a person at all. To me,
> Maliboomer aka Montu aka Kumba aka (Insert other screen names he thinks people
> don't know here), is just words of comedy on the computer screen.
But... didn't you throw a temper tantrum on here when you found out he
hated you? That would seem to indicate you *did* place value on what he
said... no?
> need a good laugh when I get home from school. It cheers me up to know that you
> will never, ever, be anything of importance here, or anywhere else. You are
> going to get what you deserve.
Isn't that sort of masochistic?
Iain
--
tokama http://www.oxford.net/~hendryjr
ICQ UIN 5362826
AIM Linjerflyg
h e n d r y j r AT o x f o r d DOT n e t
Stephanie Beck
<<I met up with Stephanie "Stealyourface" (great domain name, btw) and
we ended up closing out the evening on the dragons. By an unofficial
unscientific estimate (and I stress the 'unscientific' part), we rode
Fire Dragon about fifty zillion times and Ice, oh, I don't know,
eighty-two million times. Enough times to make me lose count, at
least!>>
That was great fun! I got to ride the Dragons more in the last hour of
the day than I had for the rest of the day combined. I guess everyone
else wanted a night ride on Hulk. I heard that in the time that it took
us to ride the Dragons as many times as we did, there was over a 30
minute wait for Hulk. Hmmmm...I think we made the right choice!
Stephanie
http://stealyourface.com
(Roller coaster section coming soon...)
Justin K.
>all
>your 3-4 screen names. And those other people probably a)are your 'friends',
>which you'll probably end up betraying,
Be careful what you say.. you wouldn't want to insult anybody you didn't intend
to in the first place.
BGTG...@aol.com (remove "ToTRules" to reply)
***************************
<a href="http://members.tripod.com/jkdesigns/intro.htm">JK Designs</a>.
Take a look!
tv's Spatch
want to read it, feel free to skip ahead to the next thread. I hear
SteelForce711 is flinging feces at those who like Knoebels.)
Steve,
I'm sorry this caused so much flamage already. It certainly wasn't
my intent, or am I pleased to see such commotion over what I
described, but sigh. That's Usenet for you.
Let me first say I will stand by what I heard. But I'm not accusing
you of saying it. I'm also not really willing to argue over whether
or not it was actually said, because in this case I really do believe
my hearing.
I had to choose my words really carefully in my TR because I
honestly do not know who said "But we're enthusiasts". All I know is
that as we (Stephanie and I) were walking out of the Ice Dragon exit,
I heard someone, some voice, some entity say "But we're enthusiasts
... let us in." I wouldn't have been so profoundly shocked if it was
just my imagination (and trust me, my imagination can truly produce
some shockers when it wants to.)
But, just as I had no clue as to the identity of the person saying
this, I also had no idea of the context behind the statement. It
could have just as easily been said in sarcastic jest -- "Yeah, but
we're ENTHUSIASTS. They GOTTA let us in! Ha!" -- as in full-blown
"But we're ENTHUSIASTS! LET US IN!" earnest. It may have even been
"But we were told otherwise, let us in" or something, but I can't
figure out a single phrase that'd sound like "enthusiasts", especially
in the middle of an exit queue.
So perhaps I jumped the gun in assuming it was said as a demand (and
we all know what happens when you assume.) But at the time, my
emotions were dictated by what I had heard, and I wasn't willing to
play Who Said What Now at that moment. And, unfortunately, that's the
memory I took home with me and chose to write about.
(Frankly, though, I'm glad I got a chance to get that little lecture
off my chest. There have been other incidents I've been witness to
this year that go along the same lines -- individual members of the
enthusiast community making demands on parks that are rather out of
line. I felt I needed to address this, and I felt that this provided
an ample opportunity to do so. I see now this may not have been the
case.)
Steve, I wasn't trying to make an example specifically out of you
nor anybody else by name. I couldn't; I had no idea who exactly made
the comment. All I know is that I was shocked by what I had heard
and, I think, rightfully so. I understand the frustration you
experienced when DD closed early, and I will take your word that you
didn't make the enthusiast comment. You're a good fellow, and I hope
to see you again at IOA come January. Perhaps the rant I fired off
would have been better off in an open letter format; I certainly
didn't intend for it to be solely for you. Since it appears I sounded
otherwise, please accept my apologies and a promise that in the future
I'll make a better effort to figure out "who the hell just said that?"
Respectfully,
S.
Sean Costa
>hated you? That would seem to indicate you *did* place value on what he
>said... no?
I threw a "tantrum" because Chris made a personal remark about my father's
surgery. What would you do if he insulted a family member of yours in the
hospital? I found it rather sickening. I was wrong back then listening to him.
He is nothing. His words are worth nothing. I hope Chris hates me.
I would never want be liked by people like him. Let him have his fun. I don't
give a damn. Hell, I have nothing against Chris. If I met Chris at a park, I
might even say hi. I just realized I don't have to listen to what he says.I
have respect for Chris, even thugh he has none for me. I wanted to be his
friend before. Is there anything else you would like to know?
>Isn't that sort of masochistic?
Tell me what that means and I'll tell you. If you want to know why I flipped
out, it's because I was suffering some difficulties in my life. We all have
problems. I deal with them differently. If you disagree with what I had to say,
just block me, or ignore me. I wish I could forget I ever had an arguement with
Chris, but I hope I have some kind of point.
Stephanie Beck
<<I had to choose my words really carefully in my TR because I honestly
do not know who said "But we're enthusiasts". All I know is that as we
(Stephanie and I) were walking out of the Ice Dragon exit, I heard
someone, some voice, some entity say "But we're enthusiasts ... let us
in." I wouldn't have been so profoundly shocked if it was just my
imagination (and trust me, my imagination can truly produce some
shockers when it wants to.)>>
I can back this up. I heard it, too. In fact, Spatch and I had a
conversation about this. My comment was that I had a great time and
wanted to ride again, but if I couldn't...then I couldn't. I wasn't
going to let the fact that the ride was closing 5 minutes early ruin my
wonderful day. Please don't get mad at me, but I agree with Spatch. I
don't want to have park employees look down on me because I am an
enthusiast. When the park employee, who I am sure was just following
orders and had no control of the situation, said that the ride was
closing, Spatch and I simply said "thank you" and walked away.
Stephanie