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Episode 146 - A Great Day!
15 Plays1 year ago
This week on the premier comedy roller coaster podcast Ben and Zach are joined by Nathan to talk about the California's Great America meet up, Lightning Rod losing it's launch and much more!
Actually, we're the worst roller coaster podcast!
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Transcript
Introductions and Jet Lag
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm Zach and I'm still smoking weed like it's going out of style. I'm Ben and I'm out of style. I'm Nathan and I have jet lag. Holy shit, I fucking bet you do. Welcome to the show, Nathan. And thanks for being on. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And thank you for being at the meetup.
00:01:12
Speaker
Thank you guys. It was a fun trip.
Northern California Trip Discussion
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was an interesting region to do a little trip for because it's a weird region, kind of like Northern California is like, uh, I don't know. I don't think it's under visited, but it's not very popular. It's not like the East coast.
00:01:38
Speaker
I mean, I'm bummed I couldn't join you guys, you know, circumstances happened, but I'm really glad, you know, everybody was there and y'all pulled it off. So in terms of a coaster region, I definitely agree. It seems undervalued and under invested, I guess. Yeah. Especially considering the population size of the whole area.
00:02:08
Speaker
I definitely appreciated that the people at the parks were just courteous. You know, people here on the East coast, we can be assholes sometimes, you know, there was a little casual line jumping, but nothing too egregious, but nobody bumped into you. And if they did this, excuse me, just a little things like that, that kind of matters sometimes. Yeah.
Theme Park Etiquette: East vs. West
00:02:30
Speaker
The only annoyance I had with a guest was with this granola mom, this like typical Bay area,
00:02:37
Speaker
Like rich white granola mom whose kids are probably named like flower or like, I don't know, Harper in the catch lane with four wise and six ends. Yeah. Sunshine. Like Lance and I were in line for Joker for like the last row or the last car and, uh,
00:03:06
Speaker
there was a mom and two kids and they were standing there first. And then they go just, they like moved to the front. And then so then Lance and I go into that row and then like 30 seconds come by and they come back to the row. And she's like, Oh, um, excuse me. Can my kids go there? Um, they were there first. It was just like, whatever, just go. Well, I mean,
00:03:34
Speaker
The occasional Karen mom is going to be a little better than I guess the complete lack of awareness in like, I don't know. Nathan was mentioning the East Coast. I'm thinking like Orlando. There's a super lack of awareness, so.
00:03:58
Speaker
Well, I just I've been a great adventure and I've had entire groups of people in front of us in line and they just give this look like I dare you to say something.
East Coast vs. Northern California Parks
00:04:08
Speaker
If you have a problem with it, it's your problem. Interesting. I mean. I guess I can't remember the East Coast that specifically, but it also kind of sounds like
00:04:29
Speaker
not too different from like going to great america here in chicago especially on like uh eighth grade graduation day yeah right yeah everyone's everyone everyone in the north or north northern california is pretty pretty chill there was um
Pop Culture: Ed Sheeran, Rupert Grint, and More
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, I can't think of any weird guest interactions. I mean, there was an Ed Sheeran concert at the Staples Center, or whatever it is. That was pretty funny to see, but at least it wasn't the Aeros tour, but just Swifties. That would have been a nightmare for y'all, I'm sure.
00:05:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I didn't really notice any of the cheering crowd in the park before we the show. I actually pulled up to the stadium. I parked right by the stadium and I can hear the sound check, which is pretty neat. Oh, my God, did he play Shape of You? Put a gun to my head, I could probably name two dead cheering songs. I don't even think I can name one.
00:05:55
Speaker
Uh, thinking out loud castle on the hill. There's three. That's probably about as far as my memory can go. And then we had that one that he talked about sleeping with Ellie Goulding, and then she was cheating on him. I can't put that one.
00:06:24
Speaker
Ed Sheeran looks like the ginger from Harry Potter, right? Oh, yeah, there was the song of his where the music video where Rupert Grint played him. Oh, shit. Which, by the way, Rupert Grint's awesome. After Harry Potter, he bought an ice cream truck just because and he drove it around just because.
00:06:54
Speaker
Does he sell ice cream? Yeah. I think maybe he gives it away for free. He never really got too much other work from being an Harry Potter, did he? Cause Zima Watson, you know, she does, she's on the con and obviously Brad Clips on the con. I haven't really seen him in much, have we? Well, that's the thing I think is like, I don't, he wanted it.
00:07:24
Speaker
I think he made all his money and he was like, I'm out. Yeah, I mean, if you go broke after being in the Harry Potter, you really fucked up. Seriously.
Controversies: J.K. Rowling and Alice Cooper
00:07:44
Speaker
The Universal Studios be still and get me out for the opening of a new attraction and shit.
00:07:54
Speaker
Actually, speaking of universal does, uh, what the hell is her name? Do she go to the parks when they open, when they open shit? From my understanding, she's very, very, very controlling when they're developing the attractions, which is why pretty much all of them are like an exact replica of the one at Orlando. Yeah.
00:08:26
Speaker
So I don't think she actually just goes. I think she's a little preoccupied with like. Making sure that she spews off some like. Very intolerant bullshit on Twitter. You know, fuck JK Rowling's take on. Pretty much everything.
00:08:55
Speaker
It's always the ones you least expect. Like Alice Cooper just went on so ran about that. Like you are literally a drag queen on stage, a very heavy metal drag queen, but you of all people should understand that people have body issues.
Aerosmith and 80s Music: Age of Consent Issues
00:09:17
Speaker
Yeah, the way I like to phrase it is that people's government identities don't match up with their personal identities sometimes. And that's okay. I'm only concerned with what they want to be identified as. Does Aerosmith have a take on gender ideology? I think they're a little concerned about age of consent prior to that.
00:09:45
Speaker
Food looks like a lady. Oh, you're right. Damn. No, I think Winger was more gender identity or age of consent. She's only 17. Oh, yes, Christine, 16. Yeah. Yeah, stuff from that era is not well, like.
00:10:15
Speaker
You go back and watch these movies from the early 80s. It's like this is not funny. This is sexual harassment. Like, why do we ever think this was funny? Seriously, you know, the Beatles. I saw her standing there. It was just 17. If you know what I mean. Wait, what do you mean? Anyway.
00:10:45
Speaker
since we're done canceling rock stars.
Oktoberfest Adventures: Rides and Resilience
00:10:50
Speaker
Two trains collided on the Holland Blitz coaster at Oktoberfest in Munich. Just to look that one up. Holland Blitz. The operator's supposed to spend a little too much time at the beer hall. I mean, that sounds legit. Ben, you've been to Oktoberfest before.
00:11:16
Speaker
This was an indoor spinning coaster from reading here. OK, yeah, I've been on that. It's a weird ride. The train is super long. So is it.
00:11:38
Speaker
I mean, I could easily see I know like some of that stuff is traveling showmen or whatever. So like I could easily see they like the maintenance like fucked up and didn't take it out of maintenance mode or something. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, wouldn't surprise me, I mean, from it seems like all those carnival rides are just are just maintenance mode. Like there's no surprise me either. Yeah.
00:12:07
Speaker
I still have that video saved of the topspin in Brazil that did 107 flips. Oh, yeah. And it's like there's no way it was programmed to that. No. Somebody was sitting there fucking with the controller having a good time. I wonder what that would have been like to ride. Nauseating?
00:12:39
Speaker
I just don't get how they have all of those crazy rides at these October fest fairs with all this booze and nobody ever gets sick. Yeah, I didn't see any puke when I was there. There's something although there is something about the maybe it's just kind of the energy in the atmosphere or whatever that prevents it because like I wrote a bunch of rides after drinking 12 liters of beer.
00:13:09
Speaker
I didn't have any issues. I did ride. I didn't, I guess like the other thing too, is like a lot of those German fare rides are, there's not a lot of rides that are like really spinning pukes, like ride a tilt the world. That'll fuck you up or like a sizzler, but those huge rides are generally a lot more, uh, less nauseating. Yo, I'm also going to go ahead and say like, I think a couple of things.
00:13:38
Speaker
Like if you're exposed to that as a kid, especially like the drinking, you probably learn your limits pretty early and it's not like, Oh, I turned 21. Let me drink everything. Yeah. Well, not to mention that they only serve, you know, it's like your, your only, your only option is like one type of beer.
00:14:04
Speaker
Um, it's not like mixing skull vodka and Gatorade in a parking lot and then going to ride like, uh, I don't know. Excuse me. That's called a board. And it's classy. Oh, that's what the board is. This was supposed to be hot board. This is supposed to be hot board summer and I didn't get to have one.
00:14:33
Speaker
Empty out of milk, Jug.
The Borg Drink Trend and Safety
00:14:38
Speaker
Go ahead. Oh, is that all it is? It's just Gatorade and vodka. So the recipe, as I understand it, as initially describes again, Ellen Jug.
00:14:55
Speaker
a bottle of ka and then filled the rest of the way up with water and then one stick of liquid ivy regular and then one stick of liquid ivy energy okay and you mix all that together and sip on it but the positive thing for Borg is that everybody can have their own
00:15:25
Speaker
and it doesn't even have to contain alcohol. Also, you can tell if your drink has been spiked. How do you tell if your drink is spiked? Well, it's not so much about being able to tell. I'm sorry, I misphrased that. It's more about everybody having their own labeled drink because part of it is drawing on the thing.
00:15:50
Speaker
Yeah. You know, you're holding on to your own drink. The last thing you want to happen to you when you're doing a blackout rage gallon is blacking out. Well, I think if the goal is blacking out, that's fine, but I think it's probably rare that the goal is blacking out and then having some asshole beauty blackout on our terms.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think that's the purpose. I can dig that. Blackout on one's own terms, not on somebody else's terms. And 100 percent. So honestly, the Borgs are making it so that like people who don't want to drink so much alcohol or none at all don't feel pressured to because they still are able to hold the drink. Like honestly, it dawned on me. Somebody pointed that out about liquid death.
00:16:48
Speaker
is like, oh, so people can drink it. And it like, makes them feel normalized in drinking situations. And then I was gonna work and people will give me weird looks like, are you drinking Miller Lite? Yeah, no, that totally makes a lot of sense. And like,
00:17:11
Speaker
I respect sobriety 100%, and so if it helps people with sobriety, then that's a good thing. It's weird that
00:17:25
Speaker
people still are unaware that like liquid death is just a water. Well, I discovered it playing golf one day. It was about a hundred degrees outside and they offered me a can. I said, well, what's, why is the can? And they said, it's to draw attention to how much pollution bottle water causes. I was like, Oh, I can, I can stay behind that. And you know, I go and every time I go to the grocery store and I buy a 12 pack of liquid death.
00:17:55
Speaker
Right now. So the first time I saw that was probably whatever too. So I think it was two summers ago. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was an energy drink. So I buy one and then I go camping for a night, drink a shit, like drink a shit ton, like wake up, didn't have any coffee. And I was like, Oh, thank God. I have that energy drink. Cause we got to like drive all the way back and
00:18:22
Speaker
hike and shit and then I like open and take a sip and I'm like, oh, this is
Marketing Magic: Liquid Death Water
00:18:26
Speaker
fucking water. It was like the worst time to not have an energy drink too, you know, but it's it's fine. I like that it's super carbonated. It's like a hyper carbonated. I just buy this. The point is still water, which is really quite good. Oh, they've got a still water.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's the white can of still water. They make a carbonated and then they go called severed lime. Interesting. I can definitely see that it's like the monster of waters, though. Yeah. But there's like, remember,
00:19:22
Speaker
I remember in like high school, too, like the era of buying stupid shit from the gas station. Like horny goatweed. Yeah, that was the way there's that dick pill, the gas station boner pill. Yep. Yeah.
00:19:53
Speaker
It was always funny just because of the name. I never even tried it. It was just hilarious because the picture had a fucking. How do I phrase this? Exhausted goat on it. Like that and the gas station condo, and you're having the night of your life. Shit had a real monster in there. You're in for a Florida man night. Actually,
00:20:23
Speaker
Craig was telling me this story. So one of his friends throws this big Halloween party in their house and it's usually like 75, 80 people. And his friend, they were cleaning the next day and they found the empty package of a gas station, boner pill in the trash can of her like home office, which was closed and not kind of off limits from the party. And then find out a guy got fisted.
00:20:54
Speaker
Oh, God. At the party. On my papers. Right over the inkjet. Burn it all, burn it all to the ground. I've never tried one of those. Let's take a bunch of those and go ride roller coasters one day. No.
00:21:22
Speaker
Let's not do that. And I'll tell you why. Those things mess with your heart. So if you're riding roller coasters, bad combination. I know you're not supposed to mix them with poppers. Yeah, because it's like an upper and a downer.
00:21:55
Speaker
And you won't know if you're coming or going. But I'm back.
Salt Lake City Demographics and Politics
00:22:07
Speaker
You know, a primordial opened at Lagoon. That only took them five years. I was in Salt Lake City last night and I was like, you know what? I can just ride over there, get the credits and leave. But it was eleven thirty a night. So it was a good point.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think the Mormons participate that late at night. That's a that's actually a really fun park, though. It's kind of got the Canobals Adventureland vibe of just like an independent park. So everything's super clean, staffs friendly. I mean, we really want to go there.
00:22:57
Speaker
Yeah, it doesn't look like a pretty neat park. And I think the Salt Lake City area is becoming more and more progressive and it's becoming like Las Vegas did 10, 15 years ago. It's going to have a big influx, I think. Yeah, I think it already is. It's been growing at the same rate as Denver for the last 10 years, although it's not just non Mormons moving there, though. There's actually quite a bit of Mormons that are moving there from elsewhere to, um,
00:23:27
Speaker
because it's like the only economic prosperous city that you can live and thrive as a Mormon. So it's just like, I don't know, it's kind of weird. The local government though is reaching a tipping point to where more and more non-Mormon, um, I guess like representatives are part of the government. So it's going to eventually tip over at some point.
00:23:55
Speaker
So my guilty pleasure reality show is sister wives. And the polygamy there is very, it was decriminalized, but it's still very highly frowned upon because of all of the bills associated with polygamy, like the welfare fraud and the arousal in child abuse and a lot of the sexual abuse. Yeah. I watched that shiny people documentary on Netflix, those,
00:24:22
Speaker
Although I don't know if that was technically, that's not technically Mormon. It's like, it's basically the same thing though. It's like parallel to it. They were more Southern Baptist. The Latter-day Saints are, they're sort of the same, but they're not. Was it IBPL? It's a,
00:24:50
Speaker
I think IBPL is like of the, what is it? It's basically like teaching your daughters to be subservient, subservient to men. And like God is the ultimate authority, then the husband, then the wife, then the kids. So that's fun.
00:25:20
Speaker
I've been watching a POV of primordial this whole time.
Lagoon's New Primordial Ride
00:25:27
Speaker
And spoiler alert. Just so we're clear here. It coasters shooting dark rad parts. Primordial. So it's basically the one at Canada's Wonderland.
00:25:50
Speaker
No, it's better than that. It's how I try. It's got several Triotech 3D sections. Oh, OK. The spoiler alert. There's a drop track. OK, I mean, yeah, that's the so does the Canada's Wonderland one. Oh, OK, then I guess so. OK, so yeah, it's basically the Canada's Wonderland one with a better coaster section.
00:26:22
Speaker
They acted like when they were building this all they acted like it was going to be like the second coming of Christ in coaster form, though. And it's really just like a dark ride. Yeah, it's I mean, the coaster section looks. OK, there's some decent theming, but you're over a fucking parking lot, so. Yeah.
00:26:51
Speaker
Hey, at least there's a new coaster at Lagoon, I guess. Yeah, something different, although I feel like they probably sent way too much money on this. For what it is. And this probably confuses me about Lagoon is that they like to their internal engineering. Like as if they're fucking Disney. Yeah.
00:27:20
Speaker
And it's like, maybe don't just hire a contractor that's already been building these rides instead of doing it all yourself and then subcontracting people. I mean, it seems to work for them pretty well, though. It just takes longer than the standard bid and get I know have contractors bid on and offer and then build it.
00:27:55
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like Wicked Wicked and Cannibal are really good. Although Wicked's restraints are awful. It's a. It has that there's a metal shin bar, so like when you pull down the lap bar, the bar hits your spin before the lap bar hits your lap. And there's a jector air time all over the ride, so. Kind of sucks.
00:28:30
Speaker
We should set a petition to get all shitty lap bars retrofit with the shoulder lap bars. Yeah. OK, yeah, this is a lot like the one that, yeah, because when a kid is wondering when you basically go into the building or you go into the drought or the mountain and then.
00:28:55
Speaker
You're inside of like a 3D, you know, 360 movie screen and it shoots a bunch of fog at you and then the drop crack hits. OK, so yeah, pretty similar then. I think maybe best case, this is a little bit longer. Yeah. Well. Let's talk about something else, then.
Dollywood's Lightning Rod Coaster Changes
00:29:23
Speaker
Fucking lightning rod is going to have its launch replaced by a quote unquote high speed lift. That is 13 miles an hour. Which doesn't seem like a millennium force, right? Not sure. I had to like I had to remember the days of playing roller coaster tycoon.
00:29:51
Speaker
You know how you could like change it from four miles per hour to like seven or eight on the B&M. Yep. So I was like doing the math. I don't think any of the GP will notice. I know there's going to be a big brouhaha in the thumbsi community, but you know what? You need a reliable ride. This will make it a reliable ride or should.
00:30:19
Speaker
It probably shouldn't have been launched in the first place. Yeah, especially on a wooden structure. But hey, it for me to criticize. I wonder if they're going to modify the bunny hill off of the like the first drop bunny hill because.
00:30:48
Speaker
From what I remember, the two bunny hills after the launch are pretty much the same height. And so they could make a more thrilling kind of double down if they modified it, but I wonder if they're going to touch that. I think they said everything's going to stay the same, including the top speed.
00:31:15
Speaker
Okay. Well, I wonder if I can find a POV because I want to say, or I saw someone say that the current launch speed slows down to 13 miles per hour when it goes over the top. So I wonder if that's the case.
00:31:38
Speaker
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00:33:44
Speaker
Keep in mind, this ad may appear in multiple episodes. You should try your best to make it blend seamlessly into any apps. We're supposed to read that. No, just say now back to the show and back to the show. Excuse me. I don't know. I'm bummed I couldn't write it as a launched coaster.
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah, but I did not open the day we went to Dollywood. Yeah, and it didn't open many days at Dollywood, from my understanding. But the the hope is that, you know, like you were saying, Nathan, it'll be operational more frequently.
00:34:47
Speaker
See that the old version couldn't stand because the old like lightning rod as it opened was it was like comically fast. It almost went too fast. Well, I made the joke on Twitter, you know, don't theme a launch coaster to cars.
00:35:16
Speaker
because the deal is I mean now at this point what this year alone we've got top fill dragster becoming top thrill too and lightning rod becoming a lightning rod 3.0 3.2 yeah and uh accelerators just accelerator sitting there still not opening West Coast Racers your days are coming
00:35:47
Speaker
Well, that one, remember, it took a year to open. You know, so. Go as I wonder, I also wonder how long it's going to take them to have from here come back to the park and reprogram it so they can only run one train. I don't think that's going to happen.
00:36:17
Speaker
What I think they'll do is they'll just run two trains on it. And it'll just be very slow. Yeah. But thank God they at least they built that into it. Yeah, right.
00:36:41
Speaker
Like, it didn't improve the efficiency of Twisted Colossus, but at least they made it so that it improves the efficiency at West Coast Racers. I wonder who made that design decision, if that was the manufacturer, if that was six flags. Probably six flags.
00:37:13
Speaker
And we were driving back from the boardwalk the other night and we see signs for 101 South Los Angeles. I'm just like, you know what? If we had the time, fuck it, let's just go down to Magic Mountain tomorrow. Yeah, it's only a five hour drive. Pretty nice drive, too.
00:37:41
Speaker
But yeah, no, I. I don't know what the fuck. I'm hoping that Dollywood. Is able to work out all the issues with lightning rod by changing it.
Lake Compounce's Wildcat Coaster Retraction
00:38:02
Speaker
Now, Lake Compounce says Gravity Group is going to retract Wildcat next year.
00:38:10
Speaker
with a new pre-cut track system. What are the rides that this has been done on? I think it's brand new. Oh, so they get to be the guinea pigs. Yeah, and from what I understand, that's not really
00:38:36
Speaker
Uh, a fantastic ride. So not much to lose. Right. Yeah. GCI, uh, did the retraggle last time. And apparently that got awful. Like people say it's on rock. It's like unrideable now.
00:39:05
Speaker
Which is surprising, because GCIs are usually awesome. But I guess if they're poorly maintained, then they're inevitably going to be shit. Yeah. Unfortunate, but. Hopefully Gravity Group's new system can fucking do the trick.
00:39:42
Speaker
Apparently it is known as the roughest coaster in the country. Holy shit. You know what? And then that's going to have me circle right back around to the meetup.
Great America's Grizzly Ride Curiosities
00:39:55
Speaker
I'm really curious about grizzly. Great America. Yes. Um, it's boring and it's a,
00:40:10
Speaker
It's not rough, it's just rattly. So it just doesn't do anything. But we were kind of reading into it when we were in line. And so that was built by Kings Island engineering or Kings Island coaster company or something. So it was a Taft construction, which makes a lot of sense.
00:40:40
Speaker
Okay. I was a little more taken aback by gold striker. The second half of that thing was rough. Yeah. Yeah. That definitely got way worse than the last time I wrote it to where that was uncharacterless or uncharacteristically rough GCI to where you can actually see, like, you know, the ride is rough when you can see the people in the train getting like shaken.
00:41:11
Speaker
You know, like when you see a rough coat, like you just you can just watch the train go and you can see like people's heads like bouncing and, you know, shaking side to side. So I don't know what the hell happened on that one. I can probably my guess. As a completely outsider is that it hasn't gotten retract in those days at all.
00:41:42
Speaker
I mean, it's probably it probably hasn't ever been re-tracked. And that's what I'm thinking. Those wheels are just beating up that track season after season. It's wood, you know what I mean? Well, I think also since they've announced that they're going to close eventually, they're just probably just not a priority to them anymore.
Memory and Ride Experiences: Gold Striker
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's probably true. Fuck, sad.
00:42:09
Speaker
Yeah, which sucks because that was a good ride when it opened. Yeah, this this trip, though, did I guess between this trip and the Florida trip I did this summer definitely reminded me how awful my memory is of remembering roller coasters or at least like riding a roller coaster or I guess having an expectation of a roller coaster, riding it, waiting for a couple of years and then going back to it.
00:42:40
Speaker
where like things are better than I remember and then a lot of things are worse than I remember. And I don't know if it's just because it's like my memory or that rides actually got, you know, they actually changed, but there was a few times that happened. Um, gold striker being one of them. And like Patriot was better than I remember. Patriot really wasn't rough at all. Surprisingly, I was, you know,
00:43:08
Speaker
Like I remember being kind of more like Rougarou where it wasn't rough, but it definitely had like that old B&M stand up jank to it still. Um, but that one was good. What about flight deck? How was flight deck? Flight deck was fine. Um, no issues with that one. That one's that one's, I always thought that one was pretty cool though. It's kind of like, uh, it's almost like they took the Batman, the ride layout and then just stretched it out.
00:43:41
Speaker
It is a deconstructed Batman the ride clone. With a helix over water. Yeah, yeah, that part's pretty cool. It was a throwback to the Paramount Dave. You tell a lot of it other than like where they build Gold Striker and Railblazer. A lot of it just hadn't changed since the Paramount year, which I kind of enjoy. It was a neat little throwback. And the cue line still had all of its theming.
00:44:10
Speaker
Which is fairly elaborate. Did you guys stop and watch the Snoopy show? No. Fair. It looks pretty tight because we wanted to head out and beat the edge here in traffic and get down to Santa Cruz. It was pretty much a credit run both days.
00:44:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was probably the better call, though. Going to the boardwalk Saturday night. But yeah, so basically, so we met up with Antonio in the morning, got Gold Striker, got the Baron curve, and then we waited for Railblazer for almost a good hour. Actually, a lot of rides went down that day.
00:45:08
Speaker
It was like, we tried to ride Patriot, it went down, and we'd go back to Railblazer, and it went down, and then we'd walk somewhere else, it went back up, come back to it, it went back down. Railblazer is having a bunch of issues with it. They got stuck on the lift one time, and they had to evac it.
00:45:32
Speaker
Demon was down. And then later on that day, a kid got stuck in the restraint on the Railblazer. I mean, it's like to come in and take apart the back paneling of the car and do some rewiring. I would like. Oh yeah, that's right. And it was kind of funny too, because the kid, they like just let the kid off and he walked away. He was probably stuck in that seat for a good 30, 45 minutes.
00:45:58
Speaker
And I think because it was a kid and his parents weren't there, they didn't give him like an exit pass or anything. They're just kind of like, all right, you're free to go. He was just like, uh, okay. I'm so glad to be out of the seat. What about six flags?
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Highlights
00:46:22
Speaker
I was a discovery kingdom. Well, also I was Santa Cruz beach boardwalk.
00:46:28
Speaker
Uh, the boardwalk is cool. It's, uh, I mean, it was a Saturday, so it's pretty busy. Um, but the, the big or giant dipper, the line moves really fast, even with one train. Um, there's no seat belts or anything. It would be a non corporate. So it's going to be a non corporate park. They just heard you in there like cattle. Yeah. That red looks cool as fuck.
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's all freshly painted, well maintained. It's got tracker lights or chaser lights along the whole thing. Yeah, that's a cool place. And then the spinning coaster was a new credit for me.
00:47:23
Speaker
So that was cool. Um, you ever figure out your credit count Ben? No, but I did actually go. So I started actually, I started, um, yesterday and I think I got my hundredth coaster wrong. Really? Yeah. So
00:47:53
Speaker
I don't know what it is. I'm still figuring it out, but like it was one of those things where I was going through the list and I was like, Oh shit. Like I think my a hundredth coaster was wrong, which meant that my 200th and 300th and all, you know, they're all off. So that sucks. So I'm going to, I'm going to figure that out though. I think I'm going to finish it soon. I'll, I'll have the official number.
00:48:18
Speaker
Nice, nice. And that actually brings me around to a point I wanted to raise here on this episode real quick, is that we were on a break real quick, but during the time now we're in the meetup, that was the fourth anniversary of this fucking podcast.
Podcast Anniversary and Community Gratitude
00:48:37
Speaker
Congratulations, guys. Yeah, it's a little. Yeah, it's a little alarming in a way. Doesn't feel like it.
00:48:48
Speaker
I know. It's crazy. And thank you, Nathan. It's really awesome to have the fantastic fucking community that we have been lucky enough to build up because of this shit. So thank you to all of you who have been listening and involved on the Discord and sent us emails and
00:49:17
Speaker
interacted on social media and everything. Thank y'all so much. But I digress. Let me know real quick about Discovery Kingdom. We got a pretty good day there. So we got into the park, went on
00:49:46
Speaker
Superman, whatever the hell it's called. We got that one in first. Then we did Joker. Joker was only like a 15 minute wait. And then we got in line for flash. We ended up getting exit passes, um, from the employee that was there just for the hell of it, which was cool. Nice. Tried to get on the free spin, but they had the worst capacity. They were sending,
00:50:16
Speaker
one train every like five minutes and the line got super long. Um, I guess it was like training day, which was weird. So every ride we tried to ride, they were like training employees.
Discovery Kingdom Visit
00:50:28
Speaker
So the operations were kind of shit, but the lines had called and they height checked every single employee in the station, whether they needed it or not. I thought that was kind of bizarre. Yeah. And this is, and this is one train operation. So like the train would come in.
00:50:45
Speaker
they would unload the train and then they would come to every row and high-check everybody. Then they would let you into the train. Wow. Wow. That's fucking painful. Yeah. That SLC got bad. Like that was probably on the lower tier of SLCs. The paint is all chipped. It looks like,
00:51:15
Speaker
Like, it looks like it's been there for like 30 years. It looks really bad. At least the queue line is completely covered. Even Medusa is looking janky too. Surprisingly. Yeah. Yeah, Medusa is another one that compared to my memory was a little lackluster. I don't know if it was just running really slow that day, but
00:51:46
Speaker
It didn't really have any whip or. Positive G's, it was pretty tame. Well, I gotta ask again, did you see any shows at the park? No. What shows are what? What's what shows are there? Well, like famously, part of the park is a marine life park.
00:52:19
Speaker
We did see some penguins. You know, I could have called my wife and showed her the stingray, but she's terrified of stingray. But that was more just to insult her or anything. Yeah, I guess like we didn't really go to that half the park. Probably should have.
00:52:42
Speaker
Well, you know, I became a showsperson after working in shows at a park, so. I'm always going to ask. But it sounds like. Go ahead. We did read the spinning web. And that's pretty new, too, right? Yeah, so as a new credit for me, Lance got in his 100th coaster, the kitty coaster on.
00:53:09
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. Congratulations to Lance and Cobra. It was not, it was not playing that way. It was supposed to have been, we were trying to set it up. So it'd be the free spin, but the kitty coaster was just closer by.
00:53:32
Speaker
But yeah, at first like though we were, I think at first he was unsure if he was going to hit 100 on the trip, so he ended up leaving with 101. Nice! Well congratulations to Lance. Sounds like it was an awesome time and uh, again sorry I missed you guys but I'm really glad you all had a good time. Sounds like y'all had a blast.
00:54:01
Speaker
Yeah, you'd have really loved it. I'm sure I would have loved the entire thing and I would have been there had circumstances of life not been in the way.
Wine Tasting at Coppola's Winery
00:54:21
Speaker
But I'm happy that you all a great time and we're able to enjoy yourself despite my absence.
00:54:31
Speaker
And I guess I should also ask, did you guys smoke any of that Northern California fine stuff? No, I didn't get a dispensary or anything. All right. Well, you were kind of near one country. Did you at least some of the. The Napa County line. I drink a bottle of wine Friday night.
00:54:57
Speaker
So before you guys got into town, I went to the Francis Ford Coppola winery, which is very beautiful in in Napa. If you don't know, Francis Ford Coppola is he made The Godfather and several other amazing films. But yeah, it was beautiful. Kind of a hot day is going up into the 90s was a little too hot for me to drink wine, but just a beautiful place. Nice. Yeah, I'd love to go see wine country and
00:55:30
Speaker
sample some of it fresh from the source. But I can imagine if it's hot, then wine is not going to be on the forefront of the mind. I just love the microclimates out there. You can go from one place in a cruise. It was in the 60s. And then I drove all the way up to Pacifica and it was in the 80s, a matter of like 30 miles. And it's pretty neat.
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah, even just driving between the hotel and parks, you'd go through two or three different little climates. Interesting. That's pretty cool. The weather was good, though, both days. Yeah, actually, both parks are very clean, and they've got good landscaping. They look nice.
00:56:28
Speaker
freshly painted and nice colors. I don't know if that's just due to they're not really being a winter there. But like comparing that Great America to our Great America, it definitely looked a lot nicer, but it is weird. It always was weird, though, being in that park is like, you know, like us growing up at Great America. You know, like the park layout is so kind of like burned in your subconscious.
00:56:58
Speaker
that you'll be like turning a corner and you're constantly getting these like weird deja vu sensations where it's like, wait a minute. It's like your mind is expecting to see something different, you know? So that's always kind of cool. That's why I want to go there so fucking bad. Like, especially, you know, like we're really gay and Batman is at ours like
00:57:28
Speaker
There's no coaster there. There's just this delirium ride in an arcade. But when you stand there, everything down to the path, that's what's weird about it. The turns in the path and the curb and some of the flower beds and the light poles are identical. But it's just got a different face to it. It's weird.
00:57:58
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, I gotta get there. I gotta fucking get there at some point. I'm uh... I am glad it all worked out and y'all were able to have a great time. Go to the parks, hit all the rides. Congratulations to Lance on getting his 100th credit. That's dope. So uh...
00:58:28
Speaker
I don't know. I know we were keeping it rather brief. We got anything else. That's about pushing midnight here, and it took me 18 hours to get home. Three flights. So I'm pretty burnt. Oh, yeah. Where did you connect to Salt Lake and then Atlanta? Oh, sure. Yeah.
00:58:54
Speaker
Damn, well, you go get some rest. I know Ben, you're in a exciting OMA. Yeah. God, I had a fucking, so like, yeah, I got to Denver, landed at 11, got home at 12, went to bed around one, woke up at seven. So like, my option was either.
00:59:22
Speaker
stay Sunday night, get up at four in the morning and you know, take an early morning flight and connect in Denver and sit in the airport for two hours and then go to Omaha. Um, so I figured it was worth the money to get to a separate flight and sleep in my own bed. Um, but the crazier shit happens. So like,
00:59:49
Speaker
I'm trying to get to the airport and Uber was not finding a ride for over 30 minutes. Like I had Uber and Lyft open and like there were no drivers out. I don't know what the fuck was going on. And then I get to the airport. Like, did you see those pictures I posted? Yeah, I saw. Yeah. So like, I don't know. It's hard to describe, like, if you haven't been through their security. Oh, we know you've been there.
01:00:19
Speaker
But basically the queue line for TSA went three or four full lengths back and forth. They had to divert the line to go outside. So the pickup area and go along the whole curbside. And for some reason, the whole line only took 17 minutes. Well, I mean, at least it didn't take long, but holy shit, it's crazy.
01:00:49
Speaker
It was one of those things where, like, you know, TSA, where they weren't even like doing their job. They were just like letting people go through. It was nuts. Like shampoo, razor blade, firework. Go ahead. Yeah, they were just like, do not take anything out of your bag, keep your shoes, keep everything on and just set it down and just go.
01:01:22
Speaker
Well, these didn't take you too long. And holy shit, we're back. Right, so we'll be doing our episodes like normal. And for all of our homies in on the Patreon, we'll be doing our call. Soon we'll get some deets to all y'all. But I think.
01:01:51
Speaker
Nathan, you got anything else? I'm good, and congratulations on four years. Thank you, and thank you for being a part of it, good friend. It's very meaningful to have the amazing community we do, and you've been a great member of that community for quite a while. Definitely. That's what I can get to them.
01:02:23
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. No, and it's always great to have you and on the Patreon calls and everything. Like I said, you're a valued member of our community. Yo, Ben, you got anything else, bud? It's good to do four years. We could have taken a bachelor's degree.
01:02:53
Speaker
Right? I think at this point we are eligible to apply for credits. Yeah. If you can prove to us you listen to every single episode, minute by minute, we'll send you a diploma. Your favorite diploma sucks.
01:03:17
Speaker
All right. Well, holy shit, this is awesome. Thank you all for being a part of the four years we had more so far. And of course, I'll say it four more years. Four more years. Hell yeah. So let's get to it. And I'm looking forward to keeping this shit running. Excited to see where we're going.
01:03:49
Speaker
in the future. So cool. Thanks, everybody, for listening. Thank you, Nathan, so much for being a part of this, especially so last minute. And while you're like still burnt out from the meetup. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure. And until next time.
01:04:16
Speaker
Your favorite character.