Transcript
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm Zach, and if you ask me if I'm AI generated, I won't answer definitively.
beb: what
beb: I'm Ben, and if you ask me if I'm AI generated, I will tell you.
beb: Yes. Think about that. I'd probably lie. It's getting very good at lying.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, right.
beb: I saw this crazy thing actually where like figured out how to lie to get around password authorization.
urfavoritecoastersux: oh wow
beb: So, uh, I wish I could remember the exact story, but basically what it did was like it. So they had a bunch of users in a lab. Um, and so the users didn't know like, if they were interacting with like programs or AIs or whatever. So what it did was it was asked for, you know, those, um, those password things where there's like the nine squares and it's like, click all the squares that contain a stop sign.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh wow.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: So then what it did was it um was like, hey, I'm a blind user and I cannot get past this. Can you please tell me which ones have a stop sign? And then ah the user told it that and then it got through and the password cracked. So like, um I don't know, it's just interesting. We'll see.
urfavoritecoastersux: Great.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: The last bastion of hope. Can you identify the parked cars?
urfavoritecoastersux: That the last fail safe.
beb: Yeah, i it is funny how those are still and in the and like the works. um It is pretty clever though, because from what I understand, all it's doing is counting the time between clicks, I think. So like, if you had an automated bot try to solve it, its clicks would be like very systematic. Right. But as it went, if you're a human doing it, each click is like a little different and there's like different pace spaces and pauses in between each click and like where you click on the on the squares. um I don't know. It's interesting.
urfavoritecoastersux: huh well I don't know um I'm not really a tech guy in terms of understanding how it works but I mean it's a little alarming
beb: Yeah, I mean, it's amazing how like outdated and sloppy most organizations, organizations that have your data are with their cybersecurity.
beb: So it's not even about, it's not even about your own practices, like your own habits.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: It's like anytime you've like, you know, it's like you purchase a blender on Amazon from a specific, like a specific seller and like, there could be some hole that is out of Amazon's reach that suddenly like, you know, your, uh, I dunno, your email address is used for some weird porn site.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, next thing you know, you're getting emails demanding Bitcoin or they'll release videos of you jerking off.
beb: Mm -hmm. Which is my fetish already.
urfavoritecoastersux: Getting the email.
urfavoritecoastersux: Somebody blackmailing you.
beb: ah
urfavoritecoastersux: Anyway, welcome back to your favorite coaster sucks. We are obviously an all roller coaster podcast.
urfavoritecoastersux: where ah occasionally we get high and speculate about AI, which was I think the alternative title for this show originally, getting high with AI.
beb: Mm -hmm.
beb: I mean...
beb: Oh,
urfavoritecoastersux: I don't know. I I thought that would work. Swing and a miss. That's.
beb: oh you're I didn't hear every other word the last minute.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, I.
urfavoritecoastersux: Shit, ah you missed a great joke.
beb: ah
urfavoritecoastersux: Now, I said there was the alternative title for this show was Getting High With A .I.
beb: That's a good one. I mean that could be, and if you haven't, no one's taken that yet, that is a good one. You could just be like, hey Rowan, I'm gonna get high and let's put things in the chat at GPT.
beb: And then you just breathe this.
urfavoritecoastersux: Pass the blunt to the USB port. You're like, take a hit.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, man.
beb: I wonder if you could tell JIT chat GPT like, um, answer this question and then be like, answer this question. If you thought you or answer this question in a way, if you were like a stone human or something like that.
urfavoritecoastersux: What would Tommy Chong say?
beb: Mm -hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: Anyway, um...
urfavoritecoastersux: Boy. We're back again. It's, uh... Are we weekly again? I think so.
beb: Uh, pretty close. At least two weeks in a row. That's pretty good.
urfavoritecoastersux: Hey, that's that's too better than the last, like, two months, so...
beb: Yeah. Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: We just won't die no matter how hard y 'all want us to.
beb: Neither were the fans.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: Thank you, I guess, for not dying.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, no. Thank you all for keeping the discord active and um making it known that there would be somebody listening to this shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: I don't know.
beb: Holy shit. There are 81 pictures of Banshee on RCDB.
urfavoritecoastersux: i'm sure a lot of construction photos probably some from our friend of the show shawn flarity okay
beb: there's There's one that's just like a picture of the moon through the steel structure, which is very anti -Duane.
urfavoritecoastersux: well ah
beb: I remember whatever years and years ago on that long drive to Mall of America, we were talking about it and like, Apparently they get so many emails with photos attached of like all the Cedar Point and Kings Island coasters, basically all the Midwest parks. It's like every day there's just hundreds of images of like the same angle of the same ride and the same bolts and the same train car.
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm sure.
beb: And basically it was like, I don't want another picture of American Eagle. I need pictures of coasters I don't have pictures of.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, you don't like it. And it's how many do you need?
beb: Right.
urfavoritecoastersux: I think he only wants the pictures there to be illustrative.
beb: Mm hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: ah Duane good people um and I guess the rest of the team at our CDB not sure who all is over there, but Cool folks, I'm sure So Banshee anyway We've been talking about it because holy shit something happened and
beb: Yeah, I mean, it's almost every time this does happen. It's like one of those. Do you have empathy? I mean, obviously, but like also.
beb: It's like you have the fence. Like.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, it's the same story happens every couple years. It had been a while since the last one, right?
beb: Mhmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: it's It's really sad.
urfavoritecoastersux: And I don't want to undermine how sad it is. But I do want to reinforce, um not that I assume anyone who's listening to this show ever would, but always obey the safety signs.
beb: Yeah, and I mean, if you don't at least take video of it so you can go on live leak or crazy shit .com.
urfavoritecoastersux: ah deep right
urfavoritecoastersux: Have somebody else take video of it.
beb: I did, I mean, I was seen though.
urfavoritecoastersux: Um,
beb: It didn't, so no one on the train got hurt, which is good.
urfavoritecoastersux: correct. But I guess the news article I said, said that one of the passengers was quoted as saying, it sounded like it hit a deer, which just, Jesus.
beb: Oh, right. Yeah, I read that.
beb: I mean, that that statement alone. Yeah, I thought the coaster hit a deer. like
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, deers know not to go by the coasters.
beb: I think there's a story a deer hit, or the beast hit a deer, apparently, I thought.
urfavoritecoastersux: I feel like that would cause it to valley, but maybe no.
beb: i Yeah, I don't have any source on that. I just thought I remember reading about that. Like it got, yeah, I don't know. I don't really know where it would have been like how it would have gotten on the track like where unless it was like in the tunnel or something. I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, Bambi and the Beast.
urfavoritecoastersux: Not the most kid friendly movie story. Yes, so you you and I were talking before we started recording. We, after almost five years, are going to try something new on this show. For the namesake of the show.
urfavoritecoastersux: Let's just get into it, our first coaster that will be telling you all why it sucks.
beb: Hmm. I like this idea. I mean, it helps to have some anchor content every once in a while. And, uh, this way that there's any new listeners, it can be, you know, on cue with the show.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, absolutely. So we're going to we're going to be talking about a different coaster every episode. And Ben and I here will be telling you why it sucks. And if it's your favorite coaster, then sorry, your favorite coaster sucks. Those are the rules.
beb: I like it.
urfavoritecoastersux: So first one I have down here for Banshee. It killed a guy.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, almost maybe almost killed. a again Details, unsure, but.
beb: I mean, not to mention this is already a polarizing. People have very polarized opinions of the coaster too. Like, um, I don't know how I feel about it. I've had decent rides and I've had like mediocre rides. I would put it in like maybe my 30 range 30 ish coaster range on the ranking.
urfavoritecoastersux: OK. That seems a little high because I definitely feel like it's forceless. It's like it's too swooshy for an inverted coaster. You know what I mean?
beb: Yeah, there's no, there's no real transitions. Well, everything is just kind of blended together.
urfavoritecoastersux: Correct. And there's no like flat spin.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: which is like a staple for inverted coasters.
beb: There is a slow heartline role though, which is kind of fun.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but like, what do you get out of hang time on an inverted coaster?
beb: I mean, not much, especially with those vest restraints.
urfavoritecoastersux: that's another that was my next point fucking vest restraint goddamn motherfuckers as if the ride wasn't force less enough you're stuck in the exact spot that you're in no breathing room
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah. It's definitely like a bondage device. because like your chest, it would be fine if the vest didn't lock. That's my biggest complaint because you go through the first inversion and then the vest tightens and then you're just like pinned in your seat and you feel every single vibration.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah that shit gets way too tight and then yeah you you can't breathe you can't move at all fucking vest restraints suck it feels like
urfavoritecoastersux: We've talked about this before on this show, but it feels like they designed, like once they switched to doing more like dive coasters, flying coasters, and especially wing coasters, all their rides got super swooshy. And Banshee just happened to be like one of the only inverts built on that side of when B and M got super swooshy.
beb: Yeah, but I will say the newer, I think B and &M has figured that out and they some of their newer stuff is getting kind of forceful again, especially in the hypers. because like Mako and Leviathan are pretty like I don't want to say violent, but maybe violent for like a B and &M And just how it like actually throws you around Yeah, and I don't know if that's I don't know if that's like part C world part B and &M I don't know like what the but yeah Mako is good and
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh yeah, Mako's airtime is aggressive. however
urfavoritecoastersux: However... Mako's sick. I feel like that's gonna have to be um the focus of a future episode though.
beb: Yeah. And then the. What's the flying coaster in Japan at Universal?
urfavoritecoastersux: flying dinosaur also starry sky ripper looks fucking sick as well um ucon striker i've heard is really pretty good as well
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah. So it's so it's. Yeah, so it's like. I don't know. Maybe, maybe it was one of those things to where they just started offering their clients like only one style of, of ride type or like ride experience. And then suddenly parks were like, no, like we want something more intense. And they're like, Oh, okay. But I mean, so I don't know if that was part of it. And now like, like whenever, when a park goes to B and &M, they kind of have like the two options, but yeah, for a while, I mean, it seemed like,
beb: maybe what like silver bullet was their first coaster that was kind of like what the fuck is this with the the new style of like elements and transitions and um and i still like it i still and it's still pretty forceful
urfavoritecoastersux: See to me though, a silver bullet has like improved with age.
beb: But it's like it it was the start it was almost like they it was seemed like it was the first time they went outside of their traditional coaster layout. They're they're like plug and play model. Because they had the weird, like, rampy first drop and it had, like, the you know those, like, super, like, the non -snappy inversions. But it was still forceful. And after that coaster, then suddenly their rides, like, lost the snap.
urfavoritecoastersux: No, I don't know. The corkscrews on there have that snap.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like the second half of that ride, everything after the Cobra roll is pretty damn forceful, especially that helix.
beb: Yeah. yeah
beb: Right. But it, but it was like the start of their new style was like, almost like that ride it was like an experiment. Cause then when they went to Hydra, it was like the, even more of the same of like. That Hydra was like, oh, let's do these new, super glidy, non -snapping versions with no forces. And then that was basically Hydra.
urfavoritecoastersux: I gotta get back to Dornie cause I remember liking Hydra but I also don't remember much about it.
beb: It was like, it was fun because it was unique, but there were like no forces on it. At least what I remember. Cause it was just, it was, uh, it was almost like, like, remember a no limits one where you could, um, that like heart lining program.
urfavoritecoastersux: okay yeah i mean i guess i don't remember it well enough although shit it's been like fifteen years
beb: It was almost like, it was almost like they were B and M was like playing no limits and they like over heartline the coaster and we're like, huh, what if we did this?
beb: And that's basically Hydra.
beb: Cause it also had the weird, it had like two zero G rolls in a row row, but one was like the classic zero G and then one was more like the Maverick style zero G roll.
beb: And then it had the like super wonky barrel roll or cobra roll.
urfavoritecoastersux: i remember I remember the the the jojo roll and I also remember that the the cobra roll being a little snappy.
beb: Yeah.
beb: oh
beb: It was, but it had that weird, like, I don't know how to describe it. It's like swishy. It like would switch from like left to right throughout it.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, um... Oh, yo. Getting it back to Banshee. I have another reason why Banshee sucks.
beb: What's that?
urfavoritecoastersux: Fucking thing only runs two trains.
beb: Oh, it doesn't have, does it have three or can it run three?
beb: Wait, are you sure?
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, I guess it - I guess it does run three trains.
beb: Yeah, I was going to say, I remember it having three trains. It does the whole like lift Hill block check thing.
urfavoritecoastersux: Boring.
beb: or like it'll it'll like slow down once it gets to the top and then once the train clears and it speeds back up again.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, yeah, that's right, because it's got one of those like two mile long break runs.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: First of all, Kings Island fanboys, before you come to crucify me, I don't care.
urfavoritecoastersux: I don't care that I got that wrong.
urfavoritecoastersux: It doesn't matter, Banshee still sucks.
beb: See, the first time I wrote it, i hate i or I didn't hate it, I just was kinda like, I was really excited and it didn't deliver. But then when I wrote it, um when we all went to Hollywood Nights and we went to Kings Island um before going to Holiday World, I had a really good ride on it and it was pretty forceful. I think it's just temperamental.
urfavoritecoastersux: okay
beb: It varies a lot. So if you're like ah if you're like a Kings Island fanboy and you go 50 times a year and you've had those like you know was like golden moment rides, it probably is pretty awesome. But for the casual visitor, if you get stuck with a lame ride, then it's like, you know. it's like a I think Nitro suffers from that same thing of like, The Great America fanboys get those like insane nitro rides where it's completely trimless and it flies, but it's more common for it to be more slow and like kind of forceless and not as much airtime.
urfavoritecoastersux: OK, I got my notes from the first time I rode Banshee. I said it was fun, but I also said that, um.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, I guess I just said it was fun the first time I rode it.
urfavoritecoastersux: Which, I mean, riding a coaster is fun, right? So let's see the next time.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Say row one, fairly forceless forceless with too much hang time. Yeah, that sounds about right.
urfavoritecoastersux: Anyway, ah I thought that would be interesting to look back on the notes from ah the first time I wrote Banshee.
beb: what's a How many notes do you have?
urfavoritecoastersux: Just that, i i usually when I go, especially to like parks I haven't been to in a while or brand new parks or any credits, I try to make quick notes just like on my phone.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: especially once we started doing this here. And it dawned upon me how you had some sort of crazy ass ability to remember the seats you rode in and shit.
beb: It's true.
urfavoritecoastersux: And I was like, I don't know, I remember riding it.
beb: When they, when they at work, um, I tried to do an entire chronological roller coaster list of every roller coaster I've written by memory. So like starting from like my very first coaster and then I put them into an Excel, like, so like, okay, the second park I went to this, is this, and I wrote these rides and the third park I went to was this. And I got it, yeah I got it about, I only missed like four of them.
urfavoritecoastersux: so it was the total number alright
beb: I can pull it up actually. It's on my work computer.
beb: But what,
urfavoritecoastersux: while you while you're doing that I just want to point out that I'm pretty sure when we started this shit ah about less over four and a half years ago I'm pretty sure in our first second, within the first 10 episodes, we made a promise to our listeners that you were going to get your coaster count done.
urfavoritecoastersux: So I think now, after four and a half plus years, the fact that we can finally reveal this is pretty exciting.
beb: so
beb: So 541.
urfavoritecoastersux: All right.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, there, there you have it, everyone.
beb: I don't know. I've made a lot of guesses on it. So I don't know like what I said it was or like what I thought it was, but um yeah.
beb: I'm not missing that much, like I stopped. See, I'm fortunate thing with my coaster kind of is like, I was fortunate enough to like, to have my era of like super annoying credit whoring early um to where like, I don't feel like I have to do it anymore.
urfavoritecoastersux: Same.
beb: but But like, Yeah, like a lot of this shit is like, it's just, it's garbage. It's like that era between like 2007 and 2012, where there's just all these like, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Fucking kidney coasters.
beb: Yeah.
beb: But I mean, it adds, all that shit, it adds up like,
urfavoritecoastersux: it does i remember uh... our buddy uh... say chris he used to always say yeah when people when people ask me like and i'm at some like little pizza place riding a coaster and like i'm like alright yeah that's why they're asking you but anyway he would be like uh... i always just say you know I am, you know, going to ride them all and they can't all be Millennium Force or whatever the biggest coaster nearby to where he was was.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And that's a fine way to look at it.
beb: Yeah, it's true. I would get a little embarrassed though sometimes, although see, I feel like being like 18, 19, 20, that's like when it's, you're okay to be embarrassed about it and it's like kind of fun and silly, but then like you cross an,
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, that's, yeah, that's also like the end of when like you should be doing that shit.
beb: Yeah. Like if you're like in high school, college age and you're with a few friends and it's like, uh, yeah, like let's go to this, you know, like garden center f FEC where there's like literal toddlers running around and like ride this kitty coaster. It's like funny, but like once you're in like, once you're, if you're like in your forties and you're alone and you're taking pictures of it, but like it's a little weird.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, and I mean, and especially if you're dressing up in religious garb to try and get a kitty credit.
beb: At least like if you're going to do that, at least like go during off hours or like, I don't know, like right.
beb: Yeah, right. I see. I think the thing what I would always say too is like. I remember, I remember doing it with our, our mutual friend a few times and we always would look be like, Oh yeah. Like we're doing a con I'm doing a contest with my friends to see who can ride the most roller coasters in a day. And like, you know, you're just like, Oh, but this, this counts. Like this counts that I need to ride it before my friend does. So yeah, I don't know. It was the way to, I justified it to myself. Make it sound less weird.
urfavoritecoastersux: well again I think that's one of those things are when you're younger especially with friends doing that shit it's one thing but yeah if you're by yourself and you're like 37
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: pump the brakes there is it really worth it like it is until the court fees start adding up
beb: It is until you hit a thousand. Maybe.
urfavoritecoastersux: So 541, all right, that's that's that's awesome.
beb: i'm trying to I'm trying to think of the most embarrassing one, and it might have been there. So in Manitoba, or outside of Winnipeg, there was this go -kart place, Grand Prix something, and they had one of those like
beb: It wasn't an Alan Herschel like little dipper. It was, uh, I'm trying to, um, it was basically like an, it was basically like a little dipper, but it had four person trains. So it was like two across. I don't know. I remember the make or model. Um, and then they had a, like an old school mouse. So. we were our our buddy and I, we were driving across Canada. we We entered Canada and Vancouver. We did Playland Park. We did Callaway, Edmonton, um you know, through Saskatchewan or Saskatchewan, however you say it properly, um Manitoba. And then I bought a, like a case of beer.
beb: And I was trying to drink the beers before we were like getting back to the border. So Winnipeg was our last stop and there was maybe like a like a five hour drive to the border from Winnipeg. So I'm like drinking all these beers before we go to this kiddie park. And ah I was a like very inexperienced with alcohol because I was 19. And I just drank like six beers in the parking lot. Like I so i slammed them. and And then I remember being like, I was talking really loud, I didn't realize I was talking loud, and Eric was like trying to cue me like, hey, shh, because we're around a bunch of like parents with little kids. And I had all the Canadian dollars, and there was like you know there all every piece or every value amount's multicolored. And I was like, could you imagine like doing a drug deal with this money? It's all colorful. like How do you take this seriously?
beb: And, um, then apparently like I'm one of the moms with the kids got got uncomfortable and she like pushed the kid kind of further up and like kept distancing herself from us. I don't know. And then I'm just on this ride, like laughing and I had my camera and I'm just like, Oh, isn't this stupid? We're on a kitty coaster.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I think that's one of those things that definitely, you know, annoyance when you're 19.
urfavoritecoastersux: Somebody might call the cops when you're 37.
beb: yeah Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: If you're if you're 43 and you slam six beers and chill up to ride a kitty coaster unaccompanied.
beb: Exactly.
urfavoritecoastersux: Just like getting high, man. Set and setting, right?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Set and setting. So, Ben, we got some news.
beb: Oh shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, I also wanted to real quick, before we move on to the news, mention that time that
beb: um
beb: Universal announced.
urfavoritecoastersux: um
urfavoritecoastersux: Wait, wait, hold on.
beb: also
urfavoritecoastersux: I really quick wanted to ah remember this other story that I thought of where you and that same friend were in the parking lot of Great America, I think drinking Jack Daniels.
beb: yeah Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And like, I remember seeing him and he was like all pink.
beb: Like his face.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like he was buzzed.
beb: Oh, oh, that was. um Oh, that's right. I still think about that visit because um
beb: That was a lot of fun because it was super, right it was like super random and um it was like super like, I remember like I got out of work and I just drove down. No, fuck God, I'm being all nostalgic now. So that was literally, it was the day before I left to go to Colorado with Lee, like camping for a week for the first like, and I remember just him and I went to like the, We went to like a REI and then Eric's like, yo, like I'm going to great America with Jackie.
beb: Like you should come. And then you were like, Hey, I'm going to the park. And then like everyone, like everyone had just happened to be at the park that day. And it was a random Friday. And then, so then I, we were drinking, no, we were drinking like vodka in Red Bull, vodka, Red Bulls.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah yeah oh wow classy although I want to say this was probably 10 or maybe even 11 years ago okay yeah
beb: Yeah.
beb: No, this was, it was, uh, yeah, it was 2013.
beb: I remember, I remember that as kind of the, it was like kind of the last impromptu six flags visit. Um, because then after that, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the same. It was like kind of like the last, like one where everyone is together and we went to Taco Bell afterwards and all that shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah that was damn yeah dude I remember that too man I feel like it'd be fun to just like
beb: I remember I was excited too because I was like, Oh, because I was going on that huge camping trip the next day.
urfavoritecoastersux: hang out with that dude again, or like the three of us.
beb: Yeah. Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: But I don't know if, uh, I don't know if that's a possibility.
urfavoritecoastersux: Anyway, anyway, that, that was a, that was a memory that that triggered in my head. Good times.
beb: Yeah, that was good. oh Because but I remember too, I just remember everything because we rode terror twister and then everything was like open and there's no lines. um I don't think we bought alcohol in the park. I don't remember.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I don't think so either. Really, the main thing, yeah, I remember going to Taco Bell. I remember like waiting for raging bull.
beb: yeah
urfavoritecoastersux: And that was like.
urfavoritecoastersux: The only time I ever really talked to Jackie, I think.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: and yeah Yeah, but I think that was what like the end of the night or something
beb: Yeah, probably. We got there at like eight o 'clock or so. I'm just, I'm wondering, I was trying to look through my phone because I remember there's a few pictures. Um, I'll have to, I'll have to dig later. There is, there is a picture from that day though, of all of us on terror twister.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh shit. Need to find that. We'll uh...
beb: It's like, i think it's I think, I think it's on Facebook.
urfavoritecoastersux: Alright yeah, well we'll uh... Maybe we'll share that on the socials. Maybe. Or maybe we'll just share it in our Discord.
beb: Yeah. And I remember, I remember that too. Cause like, cause it was very impactful. Cause basically like that was before, uh, you know, that guy and I started dating and then I moved in with him.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah. I feel like kind of. All of us were in like relatively new things at that time or something like that.
beb: Yeah, it's just your classic, like, even though not all of us were in college, but we were all kind of exiting that college aged era.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yep.
urfavoritecoastersux: Definitely because like but Within the next couple years I ended up moving from the burbs out to Chicago And you moved to Minnesota And our buddy had already left
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And that other dude we used to hang out with in that same crew, he had left a while ago too.
beb: Yeah. Right.
urfavoritecoastersux: And I still wish i ah I definitely regret not being able to go on that trip to St. Louis.
beb: The, oh, right, we're right. Well, we went in 08 and 09.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah but the one after uh the dude moved down there with um how do i put it yes apple bees
beb: ah
beb: Applebee's? Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah and uh... friend of the show John Ravel big fucking homie of the show John Ravel that was a fucking blast that was like that was like honestly
beb: Yeah, actually I got a memory of the live show picture um the other day this week.
beb: It was already a year ago.
urfavoritecoastersux: in the Almost five years we've been doing this, that was like a highlight for me.
beb: I mean, it was definitely, I mean, it was the only, well, like the second time we ever recorded in the same room.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, it hasn't happened much. it's ah It's always a fun energy though, because it's it's always like very intimate audiences, which is cool.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: and it's always like after we've been hanging out with people for the whole day or two days so that makes it even more fun like it's not awkward like just like ah when we did the one at the cabin that was a fucking huge highlight as well
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah, that one is, that one is crazy. It was like a lot. It was hard. it It definitely is hard to have a group of people though.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I don't think I would ever really want to do an event any bigger than that.
beb: Yeah, that was a good, that was a good size.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, because I think we capped out at 20 there, and that's about. The most you you want for an event of any kind, really.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: At least in a in like a place we're all crashing in.
beb: Right, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Anyway.
beb: Oh shit, did you know that Fujiyama, or, what's the correct, what is it?
beb: FujiQ.
beb: They got to a motorbike coaster.
urfavoritecoastersux: Really?
beb: Yeah, and it has the whole like Hagrid's reverse spike launch kind of thing.
urfavoritecoastersux: Interesting.
beb: with the drop track. Maybe? Oh no, no drop track.
urfavoritecoastersux: No, I hadn't heard about that. That's really interesting. Does it have any theming of any kind?
beb: um It looks like your typical Fuji -Q theming of like like steel sheds in a couple boulders and gray track color scheme.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah that makes sense i feel like i always forget which one is which but i remember years ago uh alvi made a comparison where it was like either fujiq or nagashima was like the cedar point of japan and then the other one's like the magic mountain of japan
beb: Yeah, Fujikyu is the Magic Mountain and then Nagashima is the Cedar Point. And it makes sense. Like Fujikyu is in the mountains. Nagashima Spa Land is on the coast. Nagashima has more like big, less ah like intense rides. And then Fujikyu's got like kind of the quirky, aggressive coasters.
urfavoritecoastersux: including Asian icons there, right?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And dota don't it don't be used to be there.
beb: Yeah, that that sucks. But also, I mean, like, apparently the capacity on that was absolutely terrible.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, well, I think they really fucked it up when they
urfavoritecoastersux: put the loop in there because like I think from what I had heard there was a pretty jarring transition between the track and and honestly any little bump when you're going a hundred fifteen miles an hour on fucking inflatable tires yeah
beb: Yeah.
beb: yeah people describe that it it was like a giant pothole that was like fucking people up yeah I was, holy shit, I was trying i was trying to find a POV of it and uh
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: So YouTube just suggested a Joe Rogan episode, apparently the first person to receive a Neuralink microchip.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh are you thinking about making a purchase?
beb: No, it's just funny that it suggested that.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's really weird.
beb: Cause like, I mean, obviously this is a random tangent, but like, apparently those two, like Musk and Joe have been all like, buddy, buddy.
beb: So it makes sense that he would have ah the first patient on the show.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah that makes sense.
beb: It's like, yeah, we're, we've, you know, killed 50 pigs and 30 monkeys, but Hey, look at that. Look how great this thing is.
urfavoritecoastersux: Hey, my eyesight's almost back and I can wiggle the toes on my left foot again.
urfavoritecoastersux: And all the porn I can handle directly in my head.
beb: That's the future.
urfavoritecoastersux: In other news, Universal announced details about Dark Universe. It's going to be an epic universe.
beb: So is this a new land?
urfavoritecoastersux: It's ah one of the worlds inside of the new park that's going to be opening next year.
beb: Okay. Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's all themed to the classic universal universal monsters, you know, Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula.
beb: Oh, gotcha. Okay. I didn't, I had no idea.
beb: What kind, do they have any credits?
urfavoritecoastersux: Uh, yeah, so there's going to be a spinning family coaster themed around the Wolfman.
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: And as of right now, unconfirmed, unless you know what, I didn't check our CDB before. So let me shut my damn mouth and check that shit before, uh,
urfavoritecoastersux: I go on talking here.
urfavoritecoastersux: okay so the only scheduled credit in this area is the curse of the werewolf spinning family coaster um but there's gonna be like a signature e -ticket attraction in there that
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, I think from the concept art that they showed, it's going to be a KUKA arm on a roller coaster track.
beb: Okay. And that's what, uh, Harry Potter is one of those, right?
urfavoritecoastersux: ah Well, it's a KUKA arm on a track, but it's not a roller coaster.
beb: Okay. Gotcha.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's, it can only go, like it has to be flat.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Whereas I know I think, okay, I just looked it up. This is from, I believe 2016 that they debuted the KUKA arm that could go on a roller coaster track.
urfavoritecoastersux: No, I don't there. That's just a. Hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: All right. There we go.
beb: See, if you did the the the arm combined with the whole i track Donkey Kong thing, I feel like that'd be pretty cool.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's it's gonna be themed to like Frankenstein and all the monsters dude. It looks awesome I put I put a link in the chat for you and I'll put this in the description or on our Fucking discord. Nobody likes the description go on discord. ah There's a link to An article about the robo coaster or the the KUKA arm on an actual coaster track and
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: This looks like a kind of an old article too.
beb: Yeah, the robo coaster.
urfavoritecoastersux: Right. Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: But that's what I'm saying.
urfavoritecoastersux: 2004. Holy shit.
beb: it click Yeah, this isn't...
urfavoritecoastersux: That's what I'm saying. It's not the newest technology, but I think that nobody's used it. Right. So.
beb: My question about that though is like, you know, there obviously probably are like fail safes and shit, but what happens if like the arm, well, I guess answering my own question, I doubt that a park with universal would, but I doubt that they would design a ride with like such insane head choppers and clearances based on like the arm functionality.
beb: That would be cool, though. But I.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, you've been on Harry Potter, right?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: That has some pretty close ones.
beb: Yeah, but like it wouldn't if I don't see them make doing something to where like if the arm is raised, you can clear something and if it's down, you hit it.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh no, I don't think there's anything like that.
beb: Yeah. That'd be crazy, though.
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm telling you I think that's what it is though. I'm gonna link another article here that you can see. If you scroll down about like halfway down the page, there's an animation ah for, the right name of the ride is Monsters Unchained, The Frankenstein Experiment.
beb: It's on wait, it's in it's on the page.
urfavoritecoastersux: WDW Magic.
beb: Oh, okay, different link. Gotcha.
beb: Wait, no, wait, which which link is this? Oh, gotcha.
urfavoritecoastersux: the second one in the chat.
beb: I see it.
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: And it's a nice high res image. And if you look to Frankenstein, to the left of Frankenstein's head in that image, you could see what resembles
urfavoritecoastersux: the same as, you know, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey or this Robo Coaster G2 that we were just talking about. It looks just like it.
beb: Okay. Yeah, that looks pretty cool.
urfavoritecoastersux: Right. I mean,
urfavoritecoastersux: and Like if you look at the bottom of the thing too It's got like ride vehicle Yeah
beb: The one image
beb: Or it's like of the curse of the werewolf. And it's like, beware of the moon.
beb: That'd be funny if that's just all it is. It's just like a, like an image. I guess like it's like a poster board.
beb: Um, no, not at all.
urfavoritecoastersux: dude have you followed this park at all though it looks fucking amazing I will say with all this cool shit they announced for this area
beb: Yeah, I mean, it looks really cool.
urfavoritecoastersux: The one thing I'm a little disappointed they didn't announce is a year -round haunt, like a walkthrough, like they used to have at Universal Hollywood.
beb: Oh, sure, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: I think that would have been really fitting in that area.
urfavoritecoastersux: But um on the whole, man, stoked, looks awesome. um A horror themed area in a theme park is really cool. I'm super excited for that.
beb: Yeah, I mean, it's, um, I'm trying to think of the closest thing that's, I mean, no, but no park has done that before, right? Other than maybe the, what, the Fuji Q hospital haunted walkthrough thing.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I mean, that's but that's an attraction. I don't think any place has had a ah full like horror themed area.
beb: Yeah that's true.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's operation that's operating as a horror theme all year round.
beb: Yeah, right.
urfavoritecoastersux: I think a lot of parks have, you know, a horror overlay for Halloween, but.
urfavoritecoastersux: I yeah, I can't really think of any others that are like
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, okay. I'm just going to throw this one out there just to get it out there. Technically, if you want to say Halloween at holiday world.
beb: Oh sure. Yeah. and's so That's pretty spooky.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I mean.
urfavoritecoastersux: i would I would give that maybe, you know, but I think that's completely different from what this is going to be.
beb: Right.
urfavoritecoastersux: So that's some exciting shit. um Also out of Orlando, test track 2 .0 has officially closed. It's going to be ah down for who knows how long to become test track 3 .0.
beb: 3 .9 or 3 .0.
urfavoritecoastersux: 3 .0 I made a typo there, you know If they skip right ahead to 3 .9 that would be cool
beb: Oh, I was like, it would be I thought that was like a joke.
beb: I'm ah just like, I'm not a fan of movie sequels. Like, obviously, I get coaster rehab and all that, but. um
beb: Man, sequels are top thrill too.
urfavoritecoastersux: I was just about to say, just in time, right? Cause you can't really have two rides that have the abbreviation TT2.
beb: Oh, right. i wonder if I wonder if that like, if Disney was just like, ah, fuck, we can't use that.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, if dragster comes back up, I mean, top thrill two comes back up at any point soon. There might be a legitimate conspiracy there.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Um, but you know, no.
beb: And it's still not open. It's, uh, let's hope it doesn't pull a, uh, you know, a museum.
beb: If you know what I mean.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, difference there is it was verifiably open once.
beb: That's true.
urfavoritecoastersux: um And you know what we were talking about last time? How Hyperia was still closed.
beb: Yeah, that opened.
urfavoritecoastersux: it It reopened like a day later, so fucking had a guard on her face, whatever.
beb: I mean, that's good, it's a mock. That ah that that checks out.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, well, apparently it's prone to valuing right after the drop.
beb: hu
urfavoritecoastersux: Before the outward bank.
beb: Like, during the... Like right after the first drop or between the like first element and the overbank.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like right before, like right before that outward bank, I thought that was right after the first drop.
beb: There's like a, like a reverse dive loop thing. And then it goes into the outward bank.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, yeah. OK, so that's that's the spot then.
beb: Okay.
beb: Which is surprising because it when it when you look at it run and test it looks like it goes pretty quick.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I mean.
urfavoritecoastersux: I hope they're able to figure out whatever the hell is wrong with it, you know.
beb: It looks good.
urfavoritecoastersux: hasn't Hasn't been a particularly great year for new rides so far.
beb: Doesn't it seem like every ride now, it's like, and I don't know if it's just because parks are on thinner margins or it's like an inflation thing or just like, you know, whatever. It's like, there used to be an era where like a bunch of parks would open new rides and then they'd have the grand opening weekend and obviously like rides would be late and stuff. But now it's like, Every ride has this like long drawn out, drawn out kind of like story to it, where it's like it it's under construction a whole year before it opens. And then like, or it's announced like two years before it opens. And then it's under construction for all this time. And then it like takes six months to even open.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah like well i think part of the problem is they announced the shit so fucking early now that it's like oh i'm sure it is because also like look at places like disney or bush gardens in florida where they had attractions on deck to open
beb: Yeah. And that might just imagine it might just be like a season pass selling tactic. Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: that then they didn't open for years in a couple cases and now that's precedent to have shit sitting there you know under construction and oh you know well we didn't sell enough season passes this year so hopefully you know if we sell more next year we'll open it up
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah, right. Yeah, that's probably that's probably it.
urfavoritecoastersux: And you know, and it it is top down too, because um I would um just invite you and any of our listeners to type in communicore hall on Google, which is, this is the the center point, the final piece of Epcot's transformation after
beb: Mm hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: Lord, six years.
beb: yeah just about
urfavoritecoastersux: And click on the you don't even have to click on it. The first picture that comes up when you type in Communicore Hall.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's a it looks like a it looks like a middle school cafeteria.
beb: Yeah, just about.
urfavoritecoastersux: Do you see what I'm looking at here?
beb: I'm getting there.
beb: with banners.
urfavoritecoastersux: the Yeah, this is this is the the the the crown jewel of Epcot's transformation.
beb: It looks like, it looks like a, I don't know, like a,
urfavoritecoastersux: just
beb: like your cities, like your cities, like museum, like school meeting area, like when a bunch, like, I don't know, like your public, like your city's public mute or like your, any city's public museum where like you go as a kid and there'd be like eight schools there at the same time.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, yeah, like the meeting room, yeah.
beb: It's like,
beb: where you get your bag lunge with the peanut butter sandwich and the apple.
urfavoritecoastersux: Juice box, yep, yep. No, I mean, shit. This, this shit here. They tore down like the entire middle of future world. And it was gone for like six years. For fucking Moana journey of water and this fucking cafeteria.
beb: It has.
urfavoritecoastersux: And mind you, mind you, this cafeteria you're looking at doesn't sell food.
beb: I love the one review that just says this is a big wide open room with chairs where you can sit down. Not themed in any way.
urfavoritecoastersux: The Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
beb: No bathroom. The bathroom is outside. It looked like a university common area. Could have used a little Disney decoration.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like for real, and I know you and I historically haven't really been big Disney folks, right?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: But you can look at this, even you and I, having paid attention to Disney Parks even peripherally for the past 20 plus years, can look at this shit. Cause it's just open last week, mind you.
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: And say, what?
beb: Wait, so it says there's no, they had no way. So is this something you have to wait in line in?
urfavoritecoastersux: No, it's...
beb: What it what is it? Like, what is it for?
urfavoritecoastersux: Exactly.
beb: I mean, I guess if you're, I'll put it this way, I would have loved
beb: The day I was at Busch Gardens Tampa and it was like a hundred degrees and I was dying. I would have loved to find an air conditioned room like this, but so it doesn't have any purpose. There's no food. There's no bathrooms. It's literally just, uh, it looks like there's some kind of live performance in there.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, on the...
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's outside.
beb: Well, in if in the reviews, there's like performers.
urfavoritecoastersux: And if there's...
beb: there's a big There's a bunch of people sitting in a circle.
beb: Um, the fourth review, if you go to the Google reviews, it's like the last one.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, I gotta to find these reviews, okay. I see it's got 2 .3 stars.
urfavoritecoastersux: uh yeah communicore west this is inside disney's epcot park it's been under construction for the last several years and it's true i don't
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh yeah, that was during the media event. I'm pretty sure.
urfavoritecoastersux: Cause that was the other thing about this is, um, the disparity between how it was presented during the media event and immediately after.
beb: Oh sure, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: because during the media event they did have food available in there and some like banners and shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: It looks like maybe they move the, um that looks like the lady from the Encanto show that's going on right over there. So maybe they move the show inside there if it's like too hot.
beb: i don't I don't get it.
urfavoritecoastersux: Interesting hey at least they're getting some other fucking use out of that weird building Fucking napcot um Oh Great America's gonna open sky striker
beb: Yeah, I saw a little media day clip thing.
beb: Um, today that was a few, a few, I don't know. We call it. We're like, people sit on the ride and they have a camera set up for, for, for the vloggers, the influencers.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, cool, good addition to the park, whatever.
beb: It looks all right. I mean, ah the park it's, I'm glad the park added a new throw ride. I just, um, One thing that is cool is that it looks like it gets pretty close to X flight. Like it goes pretty much over the ride, which is kind of cool, but.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, looks fine. I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's good to see him get a new ride, although at the same time, that whole area is like empty and devoid of anything now.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Because revolution is gone, right?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And they didn't put anything there.
beb: I mean, there could be, uh, there's no longer games there, right? A whole game Plaza. Is that still there?
urfavoritecoastersux: No, there's there's the game gallery there still.
beb: Okay.
beb: I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: But they like.
beb: They could put like a screaming swing over there or something.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, that could work. Yeah, there's there's nothing now they replaced all that area revolution in the in the queue with like some benches.
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: So like they took all of the. Kinetic stuff out of the middle of the midway there.
beb: Yukon territory needs a new ride.
urfavoritecoastersux: Uh, I think they need to.
beb: Plant some trees.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, they need to figure out what they're doing with camp cartoon.
beb: Is that so close?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, ah like occasionally they'll open up just space, please. The only other ride over there um is the little boat ride.
urfavoritecoastersux: No way. I can't remember. There's one other ride. I think it's the little boat ride, but everything else is closed in there and removed.
beb: Okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: So the there's only two rides in the whole area. And other than that, it's a big open space.
beb: Yeah. Well, that and, uh, wilderness seers over there. I mean, it seems like it could be a spot for a new coaster if they moved the kid section. That's the thing. That park actually has more opportunities for coasters than I think people think. But, uh,
beb: Let's see, the other, the Looney Tunes kid section, is that still there?
urfavoritecoastersux: No.
beb: Oh.
urfavoritecoastersux: Bugs Bunny National Park suchge is gone.
urfavoritecoastersux: Kidzopolis is still there though.
beb: Okay. Kidzopolis.
urfavoritecoastersux: well they had to When they lost the license to the Wiggles, they had to do something.
beb: Hot potato, hot potato.
urfavoritecoastersux: Uh, but yeah, that kids area needs some help, not kidsopolis. Although that needs maybe some help too. Because where they used to have a stage show is now kind of like permanently off limits because it's where they built a maze for fright fest.
beb: Oh, gotcha.
urfavoritecoastersux: So they're like lacking entertainment in that area.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And.
urfavoritecoastersux: Man, that's the thing is like, I don't know, everything needs some help in that park. Hometown, OK, hometown's fine. And they have the little they have kids rides in hometown park.
beb: Didn't they do something weird though where they like... There was like a sign or like... Was it was it the kazeebo? They did something weird where they just like hacked something in half.
urfavoritecoastersux: oh they got rid of all the park in the middle and now it's like four little corners of grass yeah it yuck yeah they did that for ignite but that's shit we're going back over 10 years now the old um
beb: Okay, that's right.
beb: Yeah, yeah.
beb: Yeah, the park, it it feels like it's in a weird state. and Like, like, I don't know. I remember. I don't know. Back when I started going frequently and, you know, during the sif cam roll days, there was always kind of like a. like a commentary on pride of like how nice our park was compared to other parks with just like, you know, cleanliness and paint and like all that kind of stuff. But nowadays it's like, I don't know if it's just because, Oh, well shit, 20 years went by since that time and everything is just getting old or if it's a actual neglect, I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: I don't remember it being quite as rough in like 2012.
beb: yeah like it wasn't no it was it was fine then too like it wasn't it really wasn't until like so when gliath was built that's when i started this go much less frequently and that's when i started noticing things and then when we went um after hollywood nights that's when it was like whoa like this is the shit that i remember seeing at like fucking Kentucky Kingdom in 2008 and, you know, what everyone who would dread about at like Six Flags America and I don't know, Magic Mountain and all that.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I always remember like as a kid, especially reading forms and people would shit talk all the Six Flags parks and I'd be like, oh, well, like that doesn't really apply.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Doesn't feel like that at Great America or whatever.
urfavoritecoastersux: But yeah, no, like last year, the the the candy shop in hometown was closed all year.
beb: Mm hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like they didn't even have shit in there. yeah And just fucking closed up building right there.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: um Let's see, Southwest.
urfavoritecoastersux: Southwest is all right. They took the fountain out, though, so that kind of sucks.
beb: Oh, the.
urfavoritecoastersux: And not fountain, the. The water thing, whatever you call that thing.
beb: Yeah, yeah.
beb: That sucks.
urfavoritecoastersux: And then in the mission, they built a fucking bar, like if anyone asked for that, as if there wasn't already an indoor bar in Southwest.
beb: Right. Yeah.
beb: I think I remember paying like, Oh, is it like $14 for a log and eat his IPA in there?
urfavoritecoastersux: That sounds about right.
beb: Yeah. Like it was more than a, more than a baseball game. Like, you know, I don't know, you're not, you're, you're used to gouging, like, I don't know. Like I was just at a, I was just at a Rockies game a bit ago and like, you know, like you get like the tall can of, of, of like banquet and it's like, you know, $13 or whatever. And it's like, Oh, okay, whatever. But then there I was like, wait, what? I think it was, I think it would have been like $16 or something.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, it sounds right.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, ah they. Let me think.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I guess Southwest is fine. No, no, it's. County Fair, um who where you start.
urfavoritecoastersux: Buccaneer battle's been gone for two, three years now.
beb: Mhm.
urfavoritecoastersux: Closed, ignored, boarded up. Just a big piece of real estate, completely boarded up.
urfavoritecoastersux: So like, hey, maybe fucking do something with that.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: You know, ex flight food court, that's all good. um Yeah, they took out revolution. So now there's like a big chunk of Midway that just needs like something in it. Because it's the first time that spots ever actually been unoccupied in the park.
urfavoritecoastersux: Because it was America around until it became revolution.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: then yeah uh further around oh fuck yeah yeah we talked about ucon needs everything in the kids area there needs fixing um then over into good lord yankee harbor dc universe um
beb: Mardi Gras, marty marty Mardi a little bear.
urfavoritecoastersux: I don't know, they took out the old timey photos building. So now that's a big barren piece of Midway. The old arcade there became the weird Six Flags e -sports arena.
beb: Oh, right.
urfavoritecoastersux: So now it's just a closed up building.
urfavoritecoastersux: um
urfavoritecoastersux: Rest of it's ah fine. I guess another bar over there now Whatever and then yeah, Mardi Gras. Holy shit Mardi Gras a mess um The former spot of Mardi Gras hangover is now just boarded up and
urfavoritecoastersux: just like construction walls covering it.
beb: Yeah, what the fuck?
urfavoritecoastersux: All right, um, drawing rapids is rarely open. I know if we talked to, uh, our friend over there, I'm sure they would have the exact operating schedule, but suffice it to say it's rarely operating.
beb: Mhm.
urfavoritecoastersux: um Um, shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: The Emporium's barely ever opened in Mardi Gras. Or Orleans place, that'd be helpful. And like, I don't know, Orleans. Orleans, if anything, really needs like some paint. They painted the Emporium. It looked nice, but the rest of it's like,
urfavoritecoastersux: You know what I'm saying?
beb: Yeah, everything in that every, like I remember the dark night area. There was a lot of like chipped paint on things and it's just, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's what I'm saying exactly.
beb: Why don't they partner up with HDTV, HDTV, where they have like, you know, they have one couple where it's like,
urfavoritecoastersux: it's
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm a he's a part time influencer and she sells crafts at craft fairs. They're looking for a modern farmhouse. Their budget is six point eight million dollars.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: You're like, what the fuck?
beb: but like ah Or like a show where they have like people who normally do like fixer uppers, but they just like improve the park. It's like, okay, so today we're going to be painting this roller coaster. Now, I know this ride is called the American Eagle, and it features a red, white, and blue color scheme, but I thought to mix things up, we use this pink paint for the supports, and then we'll use this green for the handrails. It'll just make it pop. And then they like paint it and it looks like shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: And then they do like a ah one of those quick cut montages of like before and after.
beb: yeah
urfavoritecoastersux: Side by side.
urfavoritecoastersux: As some like acoustic guitar music plays.
beb: i was
urfavoritecoastersux: digyy digy diggger da
beb: There's an HGTV show called Bargain Block where it's ah this gay couple who met in Boulder and they basically like buy Detroit houses for like 15 ,000 and then they you know put like $20 ,000 of work in it and then sell it for like 50 ,000.
beb: um But people have been saying that the couple resembles ah Craig and I.
urfavoritecoastersux: Wait, they resemble what?
beb: Craig and I.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, it kind of sounds similar to your guy's story, so.
urfavoritecoastersux: Holy shit. But yeah, dude, it's definitely like. Now with like Great America, I'm having a hard time with like having the like. Desire to go visit more.
beb: Yeah. I mean, I feel that way. I went, I mean, it's been a year since I've been there and that was the first time I spent the whole day there since like 2014 ish. Um, I was a little, i'm not like let down, but it was just kind of like, I don't know. Everything just felt like sad and underwhelming. And it wasn't like, Oh, it's because I used to come here when I was younger and there's nostalgia and memories and all that. It was very like, no, like this place needs a lot of work.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I think everything has really gotten really shitty there since COVID.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Which is unfortunate. Cause yeah, that's the other thing is like, I don't even know, does like the grand music hall have a fucking show happening?
beb: Probably not.
urfavoritecoastersux: So when I was saying it, I'm like, I'm looking this up right now. Entertainment.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay, so they say they're showing that there is a show called Adrenaline in the Grand Music Hall.
beb: Adrenaline Interesting
urfavoritecoastersux: No entertainment available on Tuesday or Wednesday.
urfavoritecoastersux: This punk pop sensation is taking over Six Flags Great America and bringing an explosive mix of vocals and dance moves.
urfavoritecoastersux: all right well I'm gonna have to go see it I didn't even know or reason
beb: ah se up ah trying to pullul up a video I was trying to pull up a video like on YouTube of it. What's funny suggested a video. the curb It was like the curb of your enthusiasm meme. Did you ever see that video? It was like an interview from Vice and it was the guy who claimed to like be a part of like the celebrity sex tape scandals and stuff and they like show him on he's wearing a fedora and they like show him on the phone but like the guy zooms in and there's like no phone call he's just faking a phone call
urfavoritecoastersux: No?
beb: ah
urfavoritecoastersux: That's pretty funny though.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, there's nothing on YouTube about this show.
urfavoritecoastersux: There's last year's show, so I'm wondering if it's even happened yet.
beb: They have no intention.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I'm just like not sure.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, there we go. You can filter for shows.
urfavoritecoastersux: Uh, yeah, I guess it's not open yet.
urfavoritecoastersux: Which it's mid, it's mid June.
beb: Yeah, it's if it's not going now.
urfavoritecoastersux: How's about that? That's what I'm saying.
urfavoritecoastersux: So where, cause I filtered for shows, right? And I'm not seeing a single thing on the map.
urfavoritecoastersux: Which like, all right, you're not a shows person. That's fine. If you're not, you know, whatever. But even if you're not, you should be aware that shows are helpful for the capacity of rides.
beb: Right. Exactly.
urfavoritecoastersux: because they give people a place to go that's not a ride line consistently for 20 minutes to 35 throughout the day.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: So if those, if those theaters aren't having those, you know, 500 people come through every hour, then those people are probably in line for a ride.
beb: Mm hmm.
urfavoritecoastersux: And again, this is shit you see happening across the board from Disney all the way on down to Six Flags. These companies suck.
beb: It's probably gonna get worse.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, it's definitely going to get worse. Feel the squeeze, baby.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's going to get way worse because, um, shit, Six Flags and Cedar Fair just announced the date of their merger.
beb: that's That's happening like right now, right?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, it's going to be done, I think by July 1st.
beb: Oh shit. Okay. Oh, and just random. I just stumbled upon a video of Hyperia, uh, valine.
urfavoritecoastersux: Is it in that spot between the weird loop and the outer bank?
beb: Yeah. Like it's, it's basically, yeah, it's stalling in the outer bank.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yikes.
beb: At least there's trim breaks right before it so to it won't rock back and forth forever.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, right, imagine.
urfavoritecoastersux: it's It's a known Valley spot and they're just like, fuck every fucking time.
beb: Taking a train off has gotta be annoying as shit.
beb: Just like Communicore Hall.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yep.
beb: Just like Banshee.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yep.
urfavoritecoastersux: fuck it whatever anyway uh what else we doing today Ben no what else are we doing here we've had some laughs we've reminisced yeah
beb: What am I doing today? Oh, I don't know. You know, I... Do you know Corey Wong?
beb: I was at a really fun Red Rock show on Saturday.
beb: Corey Wong and I'm Free McGee.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yo, Omsis is sick.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: They're really great live, and ah who is Cory Wong pen playing with? Who is in his band?
beb: Uh...
beb: I don't remember who he was playing with, but then him and they they did a thing together.
urfavoritecoastersux: Was it Vic on the bass?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: No shit, it was Victor Wooten?
beb: I think so. That sounds right.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, that's that's legit, dude.
beb: I'm not super familiar. i so I've seen Corey Wong a few times. Um.
urfavoritecoastersux: but Victor Wooten's a bad motherfucker on the base, dude. ah Like an older black dude wearing a hat the whole time with a smile on his face.
beb: I think so. sounds It sounds right.
urfavoritecoastersux: hot
beb: I don't really remember much though.
urfavoritecoastersux: No that sounds about right.
beb: I had a lot of fun. Like I probably had 50 conversations with 50 strangers when I went to the bathroom.
beb: It was by far the craziest like most fun crowd I've ever been there with though. Like everyone was just fucking out of it.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, dude, I'm survived, man.
beb: Yeah. Not to mention like I've never seen a crowd in unison like that before. Um,
beb: And just like, yeah, really good, good, good vibes. I had no expectations and I had a lot of fun.
urfavoritecoastersux: I saw them at summer camp like two years ago.
beb: Nice. confess i'll just
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, interestingly, Rhiannon and I went to see Victor Wooten specifically, and Ounce was playing on the stage before him.
beb: Okay.
beb: no
urfavoritecoastersux: So we, like, went over there, and we were like, this is some funky shit. And we're, like, dancing, and we work our way up to the front, and then, like, this dude and I, like, traded nugs.
beb: Nice.
beb: I think the highlight was so the sun was setting and the music changed. And suddenly like everyone at the same time was just sort of like looking up and it was like really like beautiful sunset. The clouds were all cool and colorful. And suddenly everyone's like looking up like, whoa, look at the sky. And then everyone's like all like smiling. It was like a cult. And then everyone's like, what's your name? And then like people started of like talking to the people next to them and like, they're like, look at the sky. Isn't that great?
beb: And then like the music changed a little bit again. And then like, I don't know, is I mean like more than um anything else I've seen. And then like, same thing in the, I don't know, it's just wild show.
urfavoritecoastersux: I feel like it was a strong wook vibe.
beb: Yeah, but more so like, more so like mid thirties.
beb: kind of like vibe.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, I mean, wook's gonna be a wook regardless of if they went corporate or not.
beb: Yeah. But I feel like it was specifically like a lot of people who were like entering that realization age of like, Oh man, I'm getting old.
beb: Cause like I heard, I overheard, I don't know, maybe it was like the, cause like I was in line for the bathroom and like people are just kind of like peak in their moment, you know? And then like somebody's like, man, why do I keep doing this? And then every, and then a couple other people were like, yeah, I don't know, man. It's like, dude, I just turned 35 this year. And it was like, shit. I was like, yeah, I just moved here 10 years ago. I feel old now.
beb: Like, God, we keep doing this. And then like everyone had the same, everyone was like talking this, it was like kind of a downer. It was really weird.
beb: And then I was like, and then I started thinking about it.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's exactly what I'm saying, dude. The work's gonna be a work.
beb: I'm like, oh man, I'm coming up on 10 years too. I have been doing this a lot. What am I doing? Like,
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but if you're feeling existential like that, you gotta ask yourself, what would you have been doing instead?
beb: Well, right, right. It was just funny how like it was just like probably 20 people online all in the exact same like demographic headspace. Powerful shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's because they all bought their mushrooms from the same guy.
beb: Probably.
urfavoritecoastersux: They were all on the same exact wavelength, my man.
beb: Yeah, I needed, I need to do more.
urfavoritecoastersux: But yeah.
beb: That was a good, that was a good time. I need to add that to my, my docket.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, dude. I wish I could go see dead and co at the sphere.
beb: That'd be pretty cool.
urfavoritecoastersux: Looks awesome.
urfavoritecoastersux: I got to see dead and co back in 2018. Good time.
beb: Oh hey, they'll be in Milwaukee on the 22nd.
urfavoritecoastersux: Who?
beb: Umfries.
urfavoritecoastersux: Cory Wong? Oh. Oh, all right.
beb: It's Summerfest though.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh yeah. I've never gone. Seems a little intimidating now.
beb: I mean it's fine, it's just, it's not like, the thing is they say it's a music festival, but it's not like, it's a very accessible music festival. um
beb: Lots of good concessions. Plenty of bathrooms. Like it's not like crowded. I mean it is crowded, but it's like a good space. It can handle it. It's a good time.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, I guess more intimidated by like really drunk people.
beb: Oh, sure.
urfavoritecoastersux: And that's coming from someone who works in Wrigleyville.
beb: Yeah, I mean, if you go, it it all depends on like this, like what time you go. Cause if the shows are during the day, you're usually pretty good. But once, once the crowd, once it gets past like seven o 'clock, though, that's when it kind of changes a little bit. Cause when Summerfest goes on, a lot of people who live there will go like every night of the week.
beb: So it's got kind of a, it'll get kind of a rowdy crowd.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah exactly that's that's kinda what I'm like but also if I drive all the way up to Milwaukee I wanna stay the whole day cuz
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: it's not like it would be that much fun to hit Great America on the way back
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Ooh, burn.
beb: I want to go. I wish there was like, I wish Milwaukee had a single credit.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like you say that and somewhere along the lakefront, somebody's going to open a kitty coaster.
beb: Yeah, just just some. I mean, they get the Wisconsin State Fair, I guess.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, that's a good point.
beb: That used to be pretty cool.
urfavoritecoastersux: Maybe I should do that this year.
beb: Yeah, i could be like can that's a fun time. We're trying to go to the Minnesota State Fair.
urfavoritecoastersux: Is it supposed to be pretty good?
beb: That one is always like, whenever people talk about like the best ones, I feel like people always kind of compare that one with Texas. Cause the Texas one, I feel like those are the two like big ones. Oh, there's gotta be a,
urfavoritecoastersux: For state fairs, yeah, I think you're right.
beb: But what's cool about the Minnesota one too is that it it has its all of its own infrastructure. So it has like, they have like an in -house log ride that's there year round, but it's only, ah it's only open for the fair, but it's like, uh, you know, it's a permanent installation.
urfavoritecoastersux: Interesting.
beb: So yes, Texas is number one. Yeah. Texas is number one. Minnesota is number two.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's number three.
beb: Uh, the big E. Uh, wait, also known as Eastern States Exposition. It includes Six Flags New England, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire from September 15th through October 1st.
urfavoritecoastersux: What?
beb: Huh.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay, that's interesting, but I think it's kind of a cop -out if it includes a Six Flags park.
beb: I'm guessing, I mean, I know there's that huge event, like doesnt big of there is like a big event space near the park, which makes sense. So I'm guessing like the rides are just part of, well, remember Kentucky Kingdom did that too?
beb: Because your Six Flags Pass worked at the Kentucky, worked at Kentucky Kingdom and, but it, except for like one week a year.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, I mean.
urfavoritecoastersux: I guess, but that still seems unfair.
beb: Yeah.
beb: Arizona state fair is number four.
urfavoritecoastersux: OK. Because I'm like, yeah, by that logic, couldn't Florida be like, yeah, stay fair, Disney World.
beb: Which.
urfavoritecoastersux: Best one, Epcot World Fair.
beb: Yeah.
beb: ah Tulsa is number five.
beb: Wait.
urfavoritecoastersux: So wait, is it like, is it Oklahoma state fair?
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay.
beb: Although there's, there, Oklahoma has two state fairs.
urfavoritecoastersux: Really?
beb: There's the Tulsa state fair and the Oklahoma state fair. And apparently the Tulsa state fair is the biggest one is bigger than the Oklahoma one.
urfavoritecoastersux: Gets burned down by white people. Oh, wait, hold on. That's a different.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay, so the Tulsa State Fair. All right.
beb: But, um, there's another, so we'll run for, runs for 11 days and host educational experiences in good old fashioned family fun. Keep an eye on the events scheduled to see if Disney on ice will perform in the pavilion again this year. If so, you can match your favorite characters with Disney foster grant reading glasses. What?
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay.
beb: All right. Uh, number six is the Iowa state fair.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh yeah, I've heard about the Iowa State Fair.
beb: Every state fair celebrates food on a stick. Cause they're like, we have 50 plus food on a stick options.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: It's like, yeah, every fair has food on a stick. Um, Wisconsin state fair is number seven.
urfavoritecoastersux: Except for Louisiana, where it's illegal.
beb: Is it?
urfavoritecoastersux: No, I'm fucking with you.
beb: Oh,
urfavoritecoastersux: But they got those backwards ass laws there.
beb: yeah. Uh, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Ten commandments in every classroom.
beb: So if you're, so yeah, Wisconsin's is always food on a stick, but also their thing is the cream puff.
beb: Uh,
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay, okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: What about a Kringle?
beb: I mean, you, they have, you can get it there, but, um,
beb: the Kringle Washington state fairs low. It's a, it's number eight. Cause that one's pretty big. Like when I, when I went there, like I thought that would, the crowd was, in the crowds were insane. And it was such a large space. Also we could, I mean, maybe it was just because it was kind of a flat space. it the The whole fairgrounds there is really weird because it's like, it's in a like little town. So like the, there's the fairgrounds, but it would be like the fairgrounds. You know what I mean? The fairgrounds are just like surrounded by like a small town. So there's not really any infrastructure to handle the crowds. So it's like people just park and like, right. You just drive around and park in like random fields and stuff.
beb: ah
urfavoritecoastersux: Yikes.
beb: Do the Pialip.
beb: I always thought Pialip was a funny word.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, i was I was wondering if that was the same thing.
beb: It's like a, it's like, it's like a hillbilly, like, like, what? You fell in lot you fell in the well? Hold on, I'm gonna pull you up.
beb: Poliala.
beb: North Carolina is number nine.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay.
beb: Oklahoma State Fair is number 10.
urfavoritecoastersux: Now, the thing about North Carolina is, is it only includes half of Carolins.
beb: Really?
urfavoritecoastersux: no No.
beb: ah Oh.
urfavoritecoastersux: Would that be fucking awesome if it did? The state fair ends at this line.
beb: God, that would be a nightmare trying to like handle like wristbands and stuff.
beb: It's like...
urfavoritecoastersux: Can I park here? Are you going to the State Fair or Carowinds? but
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, just like when the when the COVID restrictions happened, then like only half the rides could open.
beb: Oh, right. that's That's crazy to me.
beb: The biggest. Yeah. Oh, it's the same article in the Minnesota. Yeah. Anyway, we're going to go.
urfavoritecoastersux: I did not know that about the Minnesota State Fair.
beb: We also have a pretty good, uh, ride midway.
beb: Yeah. So their thing. So like, I remember one of the big things at the Minnesota state fair was the bucket of cookies.
urfavoritecoastersux: What is that?
beb: It's literally just a bucket of cookies. They're okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: like in lieu of like deep fried pork knuckle on a stick.
beb: But like, you know, every, every Farrakhan has like their icon food thing. Like Wisconsin, say Farrakhan has the cream puff, but theirs is just a bucket of cookies. And the milk.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, all right. Like chocolate chip.
beb: Yeah, like chocolate chip cookies.
urfavoritecoastersux: that That's... what? I thought you said it was the best state fair.
beb: It is, it's good, but no, I mean, there's ah no, I'm just saying that's like their main staple thing.
urfavoritecoastersux: You can't -
beb: Like, like, you know, everyone gets this one thing at this fair, but theirs is just cookie, like.
beb: I don't know, there's other shit there. It's a state fair. You can get anything.
urfavoritecoastersux: Understand that's an anticlimactic way to be like yeah, it's the best day fair.
beb: Well, I kind of, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: They even have a bucket of cookies
beb: Well, I remember too when I worked at, when I was working at 3M and everyone was always talking about the fair and everyone's like, yeah, you got to get the cookies. And I was like, just cookies? Like that's, that's the thing.
beb: There's a few things about Minnesota. I remember that we're always kind of lame, like um things that people talked up. It's that, uh, it sets Swedish finish. Uh, uh, what do you call it? Ancestry in the state that doesn't exactly, it's not exactly like a culinary state. If you know what I mean, things are a little bland things that things that people always talk up there. We're always a little disappointing.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I'm trying to think of like one regional delicacy from that area and I'm kind of drawing a blank.
beb: I mean, so, okay, so there's the the Juicy Lucy, which is a Twin Cities. Mainly, it's mainly a Twin Cities thing. That's, which I always thought was stupid, too. Like, everything that everyone always talked up there, I was always just a little, like, kind of just, like, disappointed by. And that's saying a lot, because, like, it's coming from Wisconsin, where, like, literally, it's just, like, brats and shit. Bratzen cheese is like the thing that people always talk up. But I remember it was like, Oh yeah, like you gotta to um go to this place. You got to get a juicy Lucy. And then like, I got it. I'm like, Oh, so it's just a burger with the cheese cooked in the middle of the burger. So when I take a bite, the cheese is liquefied and it just drips out of the burger and all down my hands and then it burns me. And then I lose the cheese. Oh, I get it. That's cool. I guess.
beb: Or like.
urfavoritecoastersux: I think you're supposed to eat it from above, like a taco.
beb: Or like. ah ah There's so there's a there is a few things like that that happened that I always just thought were funny. if you want to make it if you Honestly, like someone from any other place in the country with where that has good food, like if you open up a decent food location in Minnesota, it's a good business because there's not a lot of good food options there. um It does ice cream well. Minnesota doesn't do you very good ice cream.
beb: um Oh yeah, Duluth, there's a barbecue place that everyone raves about there. And it's kind of bland. It's like, you know, it's not that great. It's fine.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, I've certainly never heard of anybody saying, yeah, that ah Minnesota barbecue, that Minneapolis barbecue, like any of that, like, nah.
beb: turned around
beb: Yeah, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I don't know. So they're just like.
beb: Oh, pizza. That's right. There's something about the pizza with pickles on it.
urfavoritecoastersux: That sounds weird, but kind of not bad.
beb: Well, it's one of those things that's like ah if you like pickles and you like pizza, it's not going to be bad, but it also isn't like that exciting. and It's like, oh, it's just of a vegetable topping on a pizza, like
urfavoritecoastersux: No, it's I get it. It's one that's not normally there.
beb: Yeah, okay.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's interesting.
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm like, here in Chicago, we're just like dying to give people coronaries. Here, have a Chicago -style hot dog. It's got a fucking whole salad on top of it, because, you know, that's what you want in a hot dog.
beb: Yeah, yeah, I i feel like as someone who doesn't like salted meats and cured meats, the I was never super fond of the Chicago staples.
urfavoritecoastersux: What about the um Italian beat?
beb: And I mean, I don't think I've ever had one in Chicago, an Italian beef.
urfavoritecoastersux: You gotta try it in Chicago.
beb: That's what everyone says.
urfavoritecoastersux: You gotta at least try it, dude.
beb: Oh, hey. Hey, have you ever tried this thing? Oh, no, I don't care. I don't like that. Oh, well, you got to try it at this place.
urfavoritecoastersux: You didn't say you don't like it, you just said you never tried it.
beb: Yeah, it's I mean, it's fine. I just it's long as there's not like onion or horseradish or pickled things on it. I'm i'm usually pretty good.
urfavoritecoastersux: No, then you just get it without the jardin air.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Because that shit's like pickled, but well, not exactly. But skip that ship.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's just it's just ah like a sub roll with some um roast beef on it and then they dip the whole thing in the au jus.
beb: I mean, speaking of roles, so Banshee's got that inline role at the very end before the break run.
beb: Just kidding.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yes.
beb: I was trying to find awkward transitions back to Banshee. Um,
urfavoritecoastersux: Speaking of roles, croissant knees.
beb: And I think like overall, I mean, Milwaukee and Chicago are pretty similar and food offerings. Chicago is obviously way bigger. So there's more options, but like, as far as though, like, I don't know what you call that, that like it's ancestry influence are pretty similar, like
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, like, okay, yeah, Chicago, the Italian beef, where they dip the whole sandwich in the juice. And in Milwaukee, they're like, we dip this entire sausage in cheese.
beb: beer. It's dipped and cooked in beer first, and then it's topped with cheese.
urfavoritecoastersux: Oh, of course, beer, right.
beb: Yeah. Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: The most important meal.
beb: Mm hmm.
beb: It's fine though. I do think like, um, I'm speaking to Milwaukee and I keep seeing like random articles and like bloggers and vloggers and all that stuff are apparently Milwaukee is becoming like the next coolest favor to city on everyone's radar right now, which is kind of sad because I don't want to see my city change.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, it already was.
beb: Yeah, like, I mean, basically people always describe that it's like, yeah, it's like. Imagine you go to Chicago, but it's like.
beb: Smaller and more intimate and less and less stressful.
urfavoritecoastersux: and Way cheaper.
beb: And there's like no traffic. And you can actually get into restaurants.
urfavoritecoastersux: and you can get six beers for the price of one.
urfavoritecoastersux: No, I mean like, I remember like way back, I think it was 2011.
urfavoritecoastersux: I went up and visited the Lakefront Prairie for the first time.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And you remember back then, It was just fucking sketch everywhere around there. Like once you got right next to that brewery.
beb: Uh, it wasn't that bad.
urfavoritecoastersux: Because there wasn't shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: It seemed sketch to me.
beb: ah I mean, I would always, i I would walk around there at night. It's like, that's like where they built all those rich houses.
urfavoritecoastersux: I was just gonna say I went back like a year or two ago and um
urfavoritecoastersux: Fucking yeah, it was like all these You know super um I Don't know what the word is just very homogenous condos and apartments That same design you see everywhere now with like those bland multi -color panels and
beb: yeah
beb: yeah
urfavoritecoastersux: And that was like everywhere around there.
beb: Yeah. I mean, I remember.
beb: There was a place there. I forgot the name of the bar, but it was basically like one of the, I kind of like what you were describing where it's just like you order one beer, then like you like open a tab and then you get, you think you're getting like four or five beers, but then your tab is like $7.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I remember you took me to some bar in Milwaukee where it was like that. It was like fucking like $1 beers.
beb: Was it a gay bar?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah.
beb: ah Was it like small and kind of narrow?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I think so. And we we like went out the back door and do an alley to go like smoke a cigarette.
beb: Oh, right, yeah, that was, this is it. Yeah, and they do buy one, get one.
beb: They fucked that place up. That was like for a ah millennial gay that was like the place to go because it was nice and small and intimate and it had a pretty good like crowd in there. And then the new owner was like, oh, we got to have drag shows. So they bought the place next door. And so now instead of it being like a narrow hallway, it's just like a giant open space where they have a curtain that separates the old and the new bar. And last time I was in there, they had like and they had these really cool like vintage leather bar stools that were super comfortable. And now they're like.
beb: Plastic high top chairs, multicolored pastel.
urfavoritecoastersux: Damn.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: But that's exactly what I'm saying, man. The shit always changes.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: We were talking about it when we were talking about ah Great America.
urfavoritecoastersux: And I think the the question is, in terms of theme parks at least, is, are things actually worse now? Or are we just seeing things through nostalgia? And I think both are true.
beb: Yeah, there are some things though that just poor maintenance is very obvious always. Like you, you can't have boarded up closed rides in your park.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's what I'm saying.
beb: Like no one can argue again, like before that, cause that wasn't a thing. I mean, like the closest in our age of great America was maybe
beb: deja vu when they took it out in 08. And then it was an empty plot for a year.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but then it got replaced after a year.
beb: Yeah. Even by like, I think October or September, they already started clearing the land. It wasn't just like a, it wasn't just like an abandoned plot. Like they were actually doing construction on it and stuff.
urfavoritecoastersux: That's what I'm saying. Buccaneer battle's been closed for at least two years now.
beb: Yeah. There weren't just like closed shops and closed music halls and stuff.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, ah exactly. You did exactly what I'm saying, yeah. Shit definitely feels different.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And like, I feel like part of that for me is like, man, it's lost kind of how special it is.
beb: Yeah.
beb: And I wonder if that's, I wonder how much of that too is just, so let's say the park opened in what 76. So that's approaching 50 years. I, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff in that park that's never been replaced. And so after like 30 years when shit starts crumbling and deteriorating it like exponentially starts adding up for you know maintenance cost maintenance costs. So I get it. like But especially building this up, I wonder if the clothes shows and the clothes shops and all that stuff, I wonder how much of that is like really just staffing or if it's like something really kind of, um oh wait, what the word is, like benign?
beb: Like, oh, this building needs a new HVAC unit and it's going to cost like a million dollars.
urfavoritecoastersux: See, I would have thought that too, but then with like, okay, so like the Emporium in Orleans place, right? That set just closed with merchandise in it for like two straight seasons. And then they painted it thispa this year, or maybe that was last year, but I saw it open one time last year.
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah, that probably seems more like staffing then. If they had the shit in there, yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: exactly but then it's a matter of like fucking a can't you fucking pay these people decently yeah exactly why don't these kids want to work for 12 bucks an hour nowadays
beb: Yeah. No one wants to work.
beb: What, what is, what is the starting wage for six flags now? I consider
urfavoritecoastersux: probably even less than that let's see search jobs alright
beb: points paying 20.
urfavoritecoastersux: scare actor $14 an hour
urfavoritecoastersux: Makeup artist, 1650 an hour. Oh, for the supervisor. Stage manager, 1650 an hour. a Safety supervisor, 1850 an hour.
urfavoritecoastersux: So for like, Oh, ride operations, 15 .50 an hour.
beb: Okay.
beb: I mean, that's, that's pretty good. I mean, granted, let's see, I will ask work there in 2010 cost of living is more than doubled and the wages doubled. So, I mean, obviously to us, that seems super high, but compared to cost of living, like it's probably, it probably doesn't line up as much, but I will say though, I was just peeking on rents, like Sandusky, Ohio rent. um And like, a nice modern updated one bedroom, 800 square feet is 800 bucks a month.
urfavoritecoastersux: Wow.
beb: So,
beb: if you were making 15 an hour.
beb: Yeah, I mean, that's not that much. It's barely livable, but you could you could pull it off if you really wanted to.
beb: it probably It probably should be a little higher though, especially because it's season it's only seasonal work.
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm looking at like the same I'm looking at yeah agreed I'm looking at um apartments in Waukegan for that whole relativity thing there's a couple under 900 but everything's looking to be like in the 12 to 1500 range
beb: Yeah.
beb: Yeah. Which for what is great America paying 12 an hour or 14.
urfavoritecoastersux: ah You know 14 to 18 depending on your job Yeah
beb: Yeah.
beb: And realistically, like whenever you apartment hunts, the ones that you want that are that the affordable ones are never actually available. So you end up always paying more than you think.
urfavoritecoastersux: that's what I'm saying and yeah this is seasonal as fuck because they don't do holiday in the park anymore and they've been cutting the whole operations they open on 420 this year and they don't think they've posted the calendar but the latest they'll be open is going to be the weekend after Halloween looking at the calendar
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: So yeah, i don't I don't know that it would be reasonable to try and live off of that wage even for the you know six or so months that you could be working full time.
beb: Yeah.
beb: I do wonder, doesn't it seem like there's like a missing middle. Employment thing, like, because I worked at theme parks. Well, there is housing that was $20 a week. um I guess I'm curious if like. Well, that's oh no, because rides, you have to be 18 now.
urfavoritecoastersux: Probably 16.
beb: OK.
beb: But I do I do wonder if it's just if like people who like kids who live at home, like high school kids or college kids who live at home. um Why that part of the workforce is not as common. Like it used to be like because then it seemed like when we were like between, you know, let's say like 18 or like 16 to I don't know what's an age that most people live on their own by like 23, 22, it's like 16 to 23.
urfavoritecoastersux: yes I'm
urfavoritecoastersux: fine yeah dude I remember
beb: There's like, it seemed like every person we knew had some form of like part -time job, even if they lived with their parents.
beb: like it Like it felt like everything will always revolve around like people's schedules like I was always like texting people like my schedules like oh man I got off Thursday night but I have to work Friday morning and like let's do this thing and
beb: um
beb: doesn't seem
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, dude, I remember I got a job when I was in like sophomore year of high school.
urfavoritecoastersux: Like my first job at a movie theater.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And then I worked. I never didn't have a job after that until fucking COVID.
beb: yeah
urfavoritecoastersux: So, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, you're right. Cause I, yeah, I worked consistently until COVID and I got laid off. I didn't have a break of more than like two weeks ever.
beb: Yeah, I wonder why that is because like then people I know like friends and neighbors and stuff who have kids who are teenagers and in that like high school age, like I don't know them to work. Like I never see them working. Like, you know, I wonder what I guess I'm just curious what's changed. If like.
beb: If it's kind of like a The jobs are just shit, which I mean, they are.
beb: Maybe we're shifting culturally. I don't know. I don't know what it is. I'm not going to pretend I know what I'm talking about.
urfavoritecoastersux: the job's always worse shit though yeah maybe right i was fucking cleaning up movie theaters and fucking baristing yeah yeah operating rides for fucking 625
beb: Yeah.
beb: Maybe we were the cucks. Maybe we're the ones who just put up with it.
beb: Yeah. For like $7 an hour.
beb: Which is like I did, I know things were cheaper back then, but like, you know, a monster energy drink was still like, you know, three 25 with tax. You know, so it was like, so one out, you were like work one hour. and then you'd go to the gas station and get like a monster energy drink, a little bags of bag of chips, you know, and it was like, you know, $9.
urfavoritecoastersux: You'd be like, yeah, that was like an hour and a half of work right there.
beb: And my shift was only for four hours.
urfavoritecoastersux: Okay, I'm looking it up right now. Okay, inflation calculator 625 in June of 2006 has the same buying power as $9 .67 in May of 2024.
beb: Okay. So 50%. And if wages, the wages have gone up about 50%.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, so still shit jobs for shit pay.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: At about the same rate.
beb: Yeah.
beb: And like, it almost seems like parks need to figure out a way to invest in full -time staff, like still be able to rely on that like high school, college age crowd, but then still be able to invest in full -time employees and pay a living wages.
urfavoritecoastersux: I'm surprised more of them haven't tried to crack the code with like Disney with the college program.
beb: Yeah.
beb: True. Although that is a much different like pole though. Like going to Disney is not the same as like, you know, working at your local Six Flags.
urfavoritecoastersux: Well.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but your local Six Flags could partner with your local community college for culinary students and be like, Hey, we need supervisors for food service locations.
beb: Yeah, true. I need you to supervise these 15 year olds on how to reheat frozen chicken tenders.
urfavoritecoastersux: Cook fries. Yeah. Turn this fucking paste into funnel cakes.
beb: And then you got to flip the light on, make sure the light bulb isn't burnt out. The heat light.
urfavoritecoastersux: I mean, if the pay wasn't shit, I would go back to working at a park.
beb: Yeah, but yeah, it is.
urfavoritecoastersux: Because it's fun.
beb: I think about it every once in a while.
beb: I wish there were just more like full time opportunities.
urfavoritecoastersux: it
urfavoritecoastersux: Well, the only way you can get that is either have, you know, the exact right specialized skillset and they're hiring for that thing, or you work your way up from the bottom into being like a middle manager, basically.
beb: Like, yeah.
beb: yeah
urfavoritecoastersux: which yeah it's like I don't know there's really not a great path forward in those situations because even then all the people that are really good at the job end up leaving generally to go to Disney like all the people who were the full times when I was working at the park you know
beb: Yeah, right.
urfavoritecoastersux: 14 years ago, ah they all of them have left for primarily Disney.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: One's in outside sales, but the rest of them went to Disney.
urfavoritecoastersux: Which is wild because like,
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I don't know. And one of our friends, too, has told us that Great America lost their shows. Their entertainment full time to Dollywood.
beb: Okay. I mean, that seems, yeah, it seems right.
urfavoritecoastersux: As the thing is, I think we're seeing we're right now at this point of time where there is a very clear line in the sand being drawn of like
urfavoritecoastersux: fucking theme parks and then just like I don't know what the category would be like regional parks cuz
beb: Yeah. The ah the old interstate regional theme park.
urfavoritecoastersux: yeah cuz like
urfavoritecoastersux: they weren't able to keep up with the demand of like the tallest fastest roller coasters obviously that was going to die eventually.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: And I think now it's kind of proven that consumer tastes have shifted away from that.
beb: Unless, I mean, unless we have some kind of economic event that causes people to go back to the regional parks, what kind of like what happened in 08?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but like are people going to choose to go to the regional parks?
beb: Maybe it would it would it would be the people who go to Disney every year who suddenly are like, yeah, I'll just go to Six Flags.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but the question is, like are they going to do that?
beb: Maybe, I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, like what's the odds of that happening versus them saying, well, A, hey, Universal is cheaper and they got a brand new park, so we'll go there instead.
beb: But I mean like the the airfare people.
urfavoritecoastersux: Or.
beb: like If you're a family and you can subtract the airfare out of things, I don't know. like
urfavoritecoastersux: But I think, I think they're fundamentally serving different things now, generally, like different markets now, generally, like, yeah, the general family, sure. But what's, you know, like, what's the appeal of that to the families from like the Orlando parks?
urfavoritecoastersux: It's not just like the rides. It's like, Oh, they got fucking Harry Potter world. You know, they got Moana.
beb: Yeah, but there's going to be, I think there's going to be like a financial ceiling for a lot of people where like they literally cannot afford. Like you don't have a choice. Like it's, it's like, it's it'll no longer be a choice. It's like, okay, like I cannot spend five grand this year. So I'll spend 200 and bring a couple of cans of Coke and then my kids will shut up.
beb: Although the difference now is a Disney universal or it's like marketing towards, well, a there's a lot more locals in Orlando now than there were but in 2008. And there's also a lot of child free millennials who have a lot more spending power.
urfavoritecoastersux: Exactly.
urfavoritecoastersux: And that's what I'm saying is like, I think, well, certainly with that segment, regional interstate parks are losing losing ground significantly.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: because you know you hear all the time about fucking disney adults but you never really hear about enthusiasts right despite our best efforts y 'all
beb: Right.
urfavoritecoastersux: but I mean I don't know I don't know what they could do to change because at this point it's like you can't exactly double down on DC characters and Snoopy and like other IPs are gonna be expensive
beb: Ruger. It's okay.
beb: Right. Yeah, exactly.
beb: Damn. And I'm just, I'm getting fixated on Sandusky apartments right now.
beb: I want to move the Sandusky.
urfavoritecoastersux: Why?
beb: I don't know.
urfavoritecoastersux: I think one of our buddies could help you with that
beb: It's a cool town.
beb: it's ah it's It's actually, well now it's a little little bigger than Duluth, but it's Duluth size kinda.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, but like... You gonna go to Cedar Point every day?
beb: that's that's just it it's like sugarger but let's think either go either go either direction
urfavoritecoastersux: Are you gonna move to Sandusky to just like not go to Cedar Point? You know what I mean? That's and that's exactly the thing is like If you take away Cedar Point from the equation, what does that leave you with aside from a fucking Kroger and a Taco Bell?
beb: Yeah.
beb: Paddle boarding, I guess.
beb: Post daily drone videos of the park.
urfavoritecoastersux: Put in Bay.
beb: Yeah.
urfavoritecoastersux: Every weekend.
beb: Ruger.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, I don't know. I think that would be a dangerous one there, pal.
beb: Plus the winter time is a little bleak.
urfavoritecoastersux: Exactly. Although that like. Those houses on like Cedar Point Road, super cool.
beb: Yeah. I always said it'd be fun to rent one of those with like 12 people.
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah. And then you're like, Oh, let's go run and grab some beer. You're like, fuck, it took an hour to get home.
beb: Yeah, I think it's like, I think it takes, yeah, it takes a while.
urfavoritecoastersux: All right.
urfavoritecoastersux: Speaking of which. Bless you.
beb: Thanks.
urfavoritecoastersux: We are crossing right now into the two and a half hour mark.
beb: Oh, shit.
urfavoritecoastersux: Legendary status.
beb: Yeah, it's been a while.
urfavoritecoastersux: It's been a while.
urfavoritecoastersux: But yeah, I think ah so but we got to do this more often. But like I said, I think we're back to a weekly now for now.
beb: Well, uh, can, um, let's see, should we do our, our zoom or our Patreon thing next week?
urfavoritecoastersux: Yeah, that sounds good to me.
beb: Cool. Basically, I will be in a hotel with nothing to do Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, so it's a prime Patreon hangout time for me.
urfavoritecoastersux: Perfect perfect. So you heard it here first if you listened to two and a half hours of the show But we'll be posting it on The discord in case you Didn't happen to listen to all this far in oh my gosh, excuse me Yeah, same same all right, well then I think maybe we just wrap it up then I
beb: All right, yeah, sounds good Favorite coaster sucks
urfavoritecoastersux: alright well thank you all so much for listening and uh... we'll be back next week and until then your favorite coaster sir ah
