It took a long time to figure out how to post for our 2009 Disney Christmas adventure. The regular video and review just didn't seem to do it justice. After the Cynical ThinkTank podcast was launched, we quickly realized we had our forum. You can listen to our two part podcast available on iTunes, Cynical ThinkTank Blog, or MP3.
WARNING! The Cynical ThinkTank Podcasts contains coarse language and strong controversial opinions. If you are brainwashing your children to believe there are words that are "bad" or you have issue with the quest for knowledge even if it calls into question your own beliefs, don't bother listening. However, if you know me, you'll be fine.
Each year we pick a new hotel-casino to stay at for our week in Vegas. Recently, we have chosen to stay one night on Fremont Street and the rest of the trip on the strip. In 2009, we picked Planet Hollywood and The Plaza. Our experience at the Plaza was one of the most disappointing we have ever had in Vegas, while Planet Hollywood became one of our favorite properties. What is more impressive is how they managed to take such a damaged brand name and reinvent it into something this cool.
The Planet Hollywood Hotel-Casino is a complete remodel of the old, often troubled, Aladdin. The Aladdin was a property we always admired but never had the chance to stay at. So when we learned that Planet Hollywood had bought it, we were quite upset. It is not an exaggeration to say that we hate the Planet Hollywood brand and always regarded its restaurants as a poor man’s Hard Rock Café. However, once we started seeing the results of the ongoing remodel, we were intrigued. After taking a stroll through the casino, we were convinced that this was a property that we wanted to stay at. Our experience was nothing short of awesome.
This year, we changed up the usual August formula and decided to go in September so we could be in Vegas for the NFL season opener. I had always heard that football season in Vegas was a madhouse and it was next to impossible to find seats in the sports book for the games. So we decided to call and see if people were able to reserve seats. What we got was the VIP package including a roped off entrance, our own couch, three oversized chairs, four individual flat screen TV’s, a personal waitress and concierge for the entire day. It was amazing! They even allowed us to reserve the same section again for Monday Night Football. It may be the coolest experience we have ever had in Vegas, and IT WAS ALL FREE! I like being phamous at ph Vegas!
For the rest of the trip, our experience somehow maintained its momentum. We loved the décor and atmosphere of the casino. It is incredibly modern, young & hip with places like the Heart Bar to hang out in, located in the middle of the casino. The place is huge so it took a little time to get used to the layout but that, is part of the fun of staying at a new property. It has a nice selection of slot machines and some great video poker. This is one of the coolest and possibly our favorite casino on the strip.
The room was nice with a great view of the Fountains of Bellagio. It was hands down the second best room view we have ever had of the strip (the first being at TI with a view of the entire south strip). We enjoyed the Pulp Fiction Hollywood Hip room. The beds were comfortable and the room looked cool but it did feel a little cramped with the large plush chair and themed end table by the window.
The pools at Planet Hollywood are located on top of the casino, in front of the hotel. This was cool because for the first time when we hung out at the pool, we had a strip view. The pool décor was a little lacking with Astroturf grass walkways that made it hotter to walk on than the concrete it was covering up. We also felt the pools were too cold to swim in most of the time which is unusual for pools without a waterfall element attached. The pool area is huge, so we didn’t have any problems finding a chair any time of the day, as long as we didn’t want to sit by the pool. All and all I would say that we liked it but hope this is still a work-in-progress for Planet Hollywood.
We didn’t get a chance to try the Spice Market Buffet but loved Planet Dailies. I highly recommend the Crème Brule French Toast. It is amazing but be prepared for a delicious sugar overload. Planet Hollywood’s sports book doesn’t have a bar style grill that you can order food from, so we got a chance to try the famous “Pinks Hotdogs” before their grand opening. Being a guy who likes his food simple, I was impressed. I enjoyed a simple hot dog with mustard and some chili cheese fries and loved it so much, I went back for seconds. It was exactly what I needed during a Vegas, NFL football Sunday, drinking binge. Ph Vegas has a great food experience.
I can’t say enough good things about this resort and even more impressive, they changed our perception of the name. I still hate Planet Hollywood Restaurants but I love ph Vegas. Once we have stayed at all the resorts of interest in Vegas, this place will definitely be on the top of our list of places to stay at again and a must visit casino during every future trip to Vegas. Ph Vegas is all good! Trip Pics & Restaurant Reviews
Las Vegas. My favorite place on the planet. The sounds, the excitement, the heat, the resorts, the lights; I love it all. I can wander up and down the Vegas strip or Fremont street all night just looking at everything. I can walk through a casino and just listen and get excited. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy gambling like everyone else in Vegas but that isn't what brings me back.
Keren and I go to Vegas at least once a year, usually in August because we love the triple digit heat. We both enjoy the pools, the booze, the shows and various versions of gambling. However, Keren enjoys Vegas in a very different way than I do. She likes the spa's, fine dining and Cirque shows, all of which don't interest me. The fact that we have such different intrests that can all be served is another reason why I love this town. It is also the reason that you will often get both of our views on each trip we post to cover all aspects of Las Vegas. What happens when we go to Vegas will be posted on this blog, well most of it. Enjoy.
Sorry it took so long but we have a lot of content to update the blog with.
First, the reason for the delay... After our 2009 Vegas trip, we wanted to make a big post with a lot of pictures, loads of reviews and a fantastic video of Vegas at night set to Sinatra’s "Luck be a Lady". After working on the video for weeks, we tried to post it on YouTube. Shortly after, we were informed that since the rights to that song belong to WMG (Warner Music Group), we weren't allowed to use the song. Apparently, WMG doesn't allow any song they have the rights to to be posted online. So I would like to say officially....FUCK YOU WMG!
So after multiple attempts to re-cut the video with different songs, I conceded that if I could not make the video I wanted to make, I wasn't going to post one. Although I don't agree with WMG's stance on the use of their music, I can't argue with their right to do it.
Brokenhearted, I decided to take a break from the blog. Yet, I didn't stop filming or documenting our adventures in preparation for the day I was ready for our triumphant return. That day is today.
Coming soon; Vegas trips, our Christmas misadventures at Disney World, Beatles Rock Band, more past and future vacation adventures, snowboarding and more videos. We are excited to be back and hope you enjoy all we have share.
When we moved from Ohio, one of the things we knew we would miss was our proximity to Cedar Point and Kings Island. However, we were we were pleasantly surprised at what a good Six Flags park Chicago has. Luckily, we live closer to this park than any other park before it. It has some great coasters including the first in the Midwest and possibly the best flying coaster we have been on, Superman: Ultimate Escape with one of the best loops (head first, front flip) we have ever been on. Raging Bull is a fantastic hypercoaster with awesome air time and a top speed of 73 mph. Six Flags Great America is also home to the first inverted coaster in the world, Batman: The Ride. This coaster, unlike many "first" innovative coaster types holds up over time and is great fun. American Eagle is a very good out & back, racer wooden coaster. When it debuted in 1981, it was the fastest coaster in the world at 66 mph and is still the tallest, longest, fastest racing coaster in the world. The Viperwooden coaster is a mirror image of the famous Coney Island Cyclone and great fun. Honorable mentions go to Whizzer, Demon & V2.
With all those coasters, you would think this is a world class amusement park. However, Six Flags Great America has some egregious offenses. The first of which is The Dark Knight coaster. The shittiest coaster to ever ride the coat tails of a great movie. The queue themeing is the best part of this ride which should be advertised as a children’s ride to give people a fair expectation. It’s a dark ride coaster that culminates in a Joker less mouse trap of a ride. If this ride has a line longer than 15 minutes, move along. Trust me! You are missing nothing.
Next is the worst standup coaster we have ever been on, Iron Wolf. In a genre infamous for being rough rides, it is, without a doubt, the roughest. So bad in fact, you spend the majority of the ride just trying to limit how much you rattle around in your seat and trying to minimize the pain until it finally ends. I would liken the Iron Wolf ride experience to Son of Beast, with the loop, at Kings Island. It sucks and can ruin an entire day at the park. At the very least, make sure you have some ibuprofen with you. You'll need it when the ride is over.
The final, and probably the worst issue we have with Six Flags Chicago is the ride management and largely the reason we experienced the worst day ever at an amusement park. The line queues are some of the worst we have ever experienced. The staff seems to have no sense of urgency or pride in what they are doing and makes little to no effort to fill trains to capacity. Maybe this is just a testament to the available work force in Chicago but it sucks. In most cases, if you want any chance of getting on all rides during the day, you need to get a Flash pass, and now your ticket just doubled in price. Nothing like spending $100 a person to spend a day in a park not named Disney. As a season pass holder, I can tell you that at Six Flags Chicago, it feels like Al Capone is running the place because if you don't buy a Flash pass, you’re fucked. It feels like a setup.
The most frustrating part about Six Flags Great America is that it has so much potential. Overall it has great coasters, decent food and some good themeing. They just need to find some more people who give a shit to work there. Regardless of our experience and complaints, I highly recommend this park. I'm glad we have had the opportunity to make it our home park while we are here, but it still isn't Cedar Point or Kings Island. I would be remiss if I didn't give Six Flags credit. During our “worst day at the park”, we were sharing our experience via Twitter, as we do during all our adventures. Six Flags took notice and started Direct Messaging me asking for more information about the problems we were having and pledged to forward our comments onto the park. Hopefully it makes a difference but I am a cynic. Also, don't forget the history of corruption in Chicago because depending on the day you go, it can feel alive and well at this park.
So with Mark starting the blog – and doing a fantastic job with the videos and park summaries – I kind of felt like I needed to contribute. It occurred to me that I should write about things that I like but that Mark has no interest in. (Trust me, a lot things fall into that category!) This will mostly include reviews on restaurants, movies and books - and so Keren’s Korner was born. (Disclaimer - Mark has seen way more movies that me and will definitely have an opinion - however - his opinions are usually verydifferent from mine.)
The blog should be a great outlet for me, since I normally can’t discuss things like food with Mark (he's a bit picky!) Also it is possible (however unlikely) that someone else might find it entertaining. Because it’s tougher to critique food and movies after you’ve eaten or seen them, I’ll probably start with books. Along the way, I may decide to blog about something else entirely. I’m leaving it completely up to what may be.
Also, I welcome comments or recommendations. I’ll do my best to try / read / see / eat what I can. I hope you enjoy!!
This is Idlewild located in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania and the last stop on the Western PA Trip. It added two coasters, Rollo Coaster and Wild Mouse, to our conquered list and further reinforced that amusement parks aren't always just about the roller coasters.
This park features two very unique attractions. The first being Story Book Forest which features some "life size models" of your favorite fairy tails. Examples include three real little pigs and a shoe big enough live in. The second is Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe. It combines a train ride back into the forest just like the trolley car that takes you to the Land of Make-Believe in the TV show. There you will see animatronics of all your favorite characters including King Friday as they take you on another adventure in the land of Make-Believe. Both attractions are equally endearing and great fun for children & adults who grew up with stories.
The only noteworthy coaster was the Rollo Coaster which is a wooden coaster built from the very trees that surround the park. The track is also placed in a heavily wooded area engulfed by tall trees. Idlewild is surrounded by greenery and the signage isn't very good. We actually drove pass it the first time because if you don't know it’s there, you will never find it. However, this does really add to the overall aestetic of the park.
Idlewild is a really nice starter park for kids with rides and attractions heavily themed for children, but we enjoyed them all the same.
This is Lakemont Park in Altoona PA and the 5th stop on our Western PA road trip. It added three coasters to our conquered list including the oldest wooden coaster in the world, Leap-the-Dips, as well as Mad Mouse and Skyliner. This is the park we went to the same day we went to Delgrosso's. We knew that each individually didn't have enough to keep us busy for an entire day so we decided to visit both on the same day. It was a really fun idea.
Lakemont Park is delightful. It's charming, fun and feels like an oasis. It looks like an old swimming hole that a county fair setup shop and never left. At the north end of the park is the home of the minor league baseball team, the Altoona Curve. You can see the ACE award winning Skyliner roller coaster and the rest of the park from your seats in the stadium, just past the outfield.
The parks star attraction is the oldest roller coaster in the world, Leap-the-Dips. The coaster was built in 1902 and was almost demolished twice before it received its National Landmark as well as ACE Landmark status. This is one of the most fun coasters we have been on. We rode it over twenty times that day. If only Mouse Trap coasters were this much fun. Top speed is only 18 mph, highest drop is 9 ft and the ride starts with the station attendant pushing you to the first hill. The coaster is wooden, very smooth and unbelievably fun. This ride alone is worth the trip to the park and would recommend it to all amusement park enthusiasts.
Together, Lakemont Park & the Altoona Curve are a home run, one way or another.
This is DelGrosso's in Tipton PA and the 4th stop on our Western PA trip. It's a small, family-owned park that only added one coaster, Zyklon, to our conquered list. Like many parks of its kind, it is admission free, offering the option of buying individual ride tickets or an all day pass.
There isn't much to say about DelGrosso's. It was a nice, clean park. It had many well maintained carnival rides, some with unique themeing. It looks like a great starter park for kids. It took us about 2 hours to get through everything we wanted to see in this park and that's because we dragged our feet. It's also the reason it was the first park of the day. After DelGrosso's we went to Lakemont Park the same day. It was an idea we had that made for a really fun day. This park is a couple of good coasters away from being something really special. Regardless of its limited options, we had fun.
Zyklon is a standard mouse trap type coaster, nothing special and not particularly fun. The only other note worthy attraction is Space Odyssey. It is an original caterpillar ride, inside a building and in the dark, themed to look like the night sky. It's the best use a caterpillar ride we have ever been on and reminded me of Conneaut Lake Park's Ultimate Trip.
Delgrosso's is not a vacation destination but if your in the area and looking for some fun, check it out. The price is right.
This is Kennywood located just outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. It was ranked the 2nd favorite park in Theme Park Magazines "Readers Choice Awards" in 2004. Kennywood was the 3rd stop in our Western Pennsylvania Park Trip. This park added 5 coasters to our conquered list, Exterminator, Jack Rabbit, Phantom's Revenge, Racer and Thunderbolt.
Anyone who has ever visited Pittsburgh will understand why the park is so unique. Due to the geography of the area, Kennywood is essentially built on the side of a hill, a feature they utilize in several of their coasters. The park is visually impressive with quality rides. The Jack Rabbit is a good wooden coaster that uses the hillside to create its infamous double dip drop. Racer is a classic dueling wooden coasters with a winner declared at the end of every ride by the staff. Thunderbolt, their 3rd wooden coasters, has a unique feature in that the first drop occurs immediately out of the station. But the best coaster at Kennywood would have to be the Phantom's Revenge. It's a hypercoaster, top speed 85 mph, biggest drop, 228 ft, but here is the cool part, IT'S THE SECOND HILL, and it goes down the side of a mountain. AWESOME!
Kennywood is just an overall great park, with impressive rides and some kick ass, award winning, French fries. Seriously, have I ever mentioned food on this blog before? This is a vacation destination park. However, I don't know if they have enough thrill attractions to keep the rollercoaster enthusiast entertained for an entire day, unless they enjoy riding the same coasters a few times. Regardless, we loved it and recommend it. Often parks that are given the "U.S. National Historical Landmarks" tag are places that would close if it weren't for this designation. In the case of Kennywood, it's just a well earned honor.
This is Conneaut Lake Park in Pennsylvania. It was one of my local amusement parks and the one I visited most as a kid. It's also the place I rode my first rollercoaster so it has a special place in my heart. The park is small; it only added two coasters, Blue Streak and Toboggan, to our conquered list and was the 2nd stop on our Western Pennsylvania road trip. It has good prices, intimate surroundings and is rather charming.
The park has been around for over 100 years and recently has had lots of financial problems keeping the park open. It used to have a bowling alley, a ballroom, roller skating rink and the scariest "rotor" ride ever called the Hell Hole. The signage for the Hell Hole had a 10 foot tall statue of a devil and gave me nightmares as a kid but became one of my favorite rides as a teen until it closed in 1992. They have your standard dark, "scary" ride with glow in the dark pictures, rubber spiders, loud noises, monster mannequins & the ever trashy & disgusting used chewing gum wall. The Ultimate Trip is the best use of a Scrambler ever. It ran for 3-5 minutes, in the dark, with black lights everywhere & loud rock music, but it closed in 2005. Lastly, my first coaster love, the Blue Streak is the 6th oldest coaster in the United States and a classic out & back wooden coaster. The ride starts in a tunnel before getting to the first hill, has a top speed of 51 mph and lasts 1.32 minutes. Unfortunately, those financial difficulties have caused the coaster to not run since 2007.
I wish I could tell you this is a must visit park but it in all honesty, this park is all but dead. Even in its prime, you could get through the highlights in 2-3 hours. I'm just happy I got to share this park, it's rides and all of it's charm with my wife while it was still a shell of it's former self.
Waldameer is an admission-free park which I find incredibly charming. They offer the option of an all day pass or individual ride tickets. It has a pleasant midway, a sky ride, a giant Ferris wheel and loads of carnival type rides. It's a great starter park for kids and we intend to use it for just that with our nieces and nephews soon.
Other highlights would be the Pirates Cove "Fun house" walkthrough attraction which is not much overall but kind of fun regardless. The Wacky Shack is a very dark ride with loud noises, scares around every corner and a good excuse to get close to the person you chose to ride it with. The Comet is a very small but quite fun little wooden coaster. Top speed, 25 mph, biggest drop, 25 feet and the ride lasts 1:24 minutes. It won't break any records but it is enjoyable.
Waldameer is a fun, family park with a good management team. They have grown the park by adding two more coasters, Steel Dragon (2004) & Ravine Flyer II (2008), both of which have helped to increase annual attendance. We are looking forward to adding these to our conquered list in the near future and hope that Waldameer continues to grow and improve their park.
This is the trip that started it all. It began with a desire to share some parks I enjoyed as a kid with my wife and ballooned into a 6 park marathon road trip that we really enjoyed. The trip took place in the summer of 2002 and started with Waldameer Park to Conneaut Lake Park to Kennywood to DelGrosso's to Lakemont Park and ending at Idelwild, all in one week. We even did DelGrosso's & Lakemont in the same day. This trip added 1 state, 6 parks and 12 coasters to our conquered list including the oldest roller coaster in the world. More than that, it ignited a passion for amusement parks and road trips that continues to this day, not to mention some fantastic memories.
This is the Gallery of Ghouls at Indiana Beach, located to the left of the Frankenstein’s Castle. This is quite possible the coolest shooting gallery I have ever seen, however my wife says the guns don't work very well. She is quite the shooting gallery aficionado so its probably not bullshit. The game was actually better than the castle. Beware, the characters shown in this video are not real and posed no real threat to us at anytime.
This is the Steel Hawg coaster at Indiana Beach. It is their newest coaster and possibly their best. It looks like just another Mouse Trap type coaster but looks can be deceiving. This coaster is smooth with very unique inversions, 111 degree drop which, at its debut, made it the steepest coaster in the world. Top speed is 40miles an hour but that isn’t why this coaster is so much fun. I can try to explain the unique features of the track but after watching the video, you'll understand better than if I rattled off technical specs.
We really liked the park. It’s the kind of place that you appreciate the longer you reflect upon your experience. It has fun rides, good food, reasonable prices on everything and a charming atmosphere. Some of the people are a little scary and unfamiliar with the groundbreaking science of Dentistry but what do you expect, it’s Indiana and proof that stereotypes are based in fact. Our largest complaint is that since it is located in a heavily wooded area and surrounded by a lake, we had to deal with bugs all day.
The park makes great use of its surroundings with a nice boardwalk atmosphere. It has several platforms built on the water to position a variety of classic “spinney” rides in a unique, water surrounded atmosphere only enhancing the experience of the ride. It also helps keep the park clear for larger attractions. All the coasters were quite good. Our favorite would be the new steel coaster called Steel Hawg. It’s a very unique, relatively small coaster that takes the mouse trap style to another level with smooth turns, a 111 degree drop, 90 degree corners and a section of track that rides completely upside down at a reasonably slow speed. I hope this is the next generation of small coasters which traditionally are rough rides but inexpensive which makes them very attractive to smaller parks. Another coaster deserving a mention would be the Cornball Express, possible the worst name for a good coaster. This wooden coaster is surprisingly smooth, relatively fast with tons of air time.
I wouldn’t call Indiana Beach a vacation destination, but if you are in the area, stop by and check it out. You will be pleasantly surprised at what a good time you have. I know we were.
This video covers some of the highlights of our visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Some additional information is that the Saturn 5 rocket on display is the actual last rocket that took men to the moon in Apollo 17. Its mind blowing how massive this thing is and even the video doesn’t do it justice. It’s just something you have to experience for yourself. Also, part of the Star Wars Exhibit was a cloud screen with scenes from the movies projected on it. Keren walks through the screen to demonstrate. Enjoy.
This is the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. It didn’t help us add any coasters to our conquered list; it was just a cool place to visit.
We didn’t get a chance to fully enjoy this place because it was our last day of vacation and we had a plane to catch, but what we saw, we liked. We took one of the tours offered of the facility and got to see the last, fully refurbished, Saturn 5 rocket that took men to the moon. We also saw the astronaut training facility which had a fully functioning replica of the space shuttle. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any astronauts in training because it was their day off. The Johnson Center also had a variety of exhibits covering the history of man in space, the moon landing and the future of manned space flight. They also had a few presentations covering the space station and details about future trips back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. Finally, Johnson’s had a tribute to George Lucas covering his movies and how they inspired NASA and in turn inspired Lucas. The gem of the collection was the original R2D2 & C3PO on display.
Overall, we really enjoyed the Johnson Space Center and will more than likely visit it again, if we go back to Houston, but we will plan more time to enjoy the place properly.
This is Kemah Boardwalk. It is a very cute amusement park just outside of Houston on the Gulf. It has one coasater called the Boardwalk Bullet which is very fun but Kemah is so much more than that. This is a perfect example of why, when we plan these vacations, we look for little places like this. It has 10-15 carnival type rides, midway games, shopping, an arcade & several nice restaurants overlooking Galveston Bay. The entire area is only 35 acres and has a hotel & marina attached to it. Admission to the area is free. You can purchase all day passes or individual rides tickets, a feature I love about small amusement parks like this. It is very charming & terribly romantic, a perfect date place. We may go back one day if we visit Texas again.
This is Sea World San Antonio. It is the largest of the Sea World parks and it is absolutely beautiful. The place is well spaced, stunning landscapes with some fantastic coasters and all the staple Sea World attractions you’re used to seeing. This park added 2 coaster to your conquered list, The Steel Eel and the Great White.
Upon our first review, we were extremely disappointed but after reflection, it's not a bad park. The Clyde and Seymour show is just as entertaining as ever. The dolphins were good and now share a show with Beluga Whales. However, the ski show was canceled, they were still developing a diving show and despite how amazing Shamu Stadium looks, it was the worst Shamu show I have ever seen. It was extra disappointing because it was the show I was most looking forward to seeing. Also, every show only had about two showings and no special evening shows. It had no Shark Encounter or Aquarium exhibit and the Penguin Encounter was largely disappointing.
However, both coasters were fantastic. The Steel Eel is a great hypercoaster, the first of its kind in Texas, that I desperately tried to get video of it but the thing is just too large. Top speed is 70 mph; the ride lasts 3 minutes and has big hills with even better air time. The Great White is a classic inverted coaster with a top speed of 50 mph. It was the parks first coaster and a good one. Overall the park was very pretty; it had some good shows, great coasters but its marquee act needs some work. I hope they continue to add coasters to this park as well as some other quality attractions. If we make another trip to San Antonio in 5 years we might go again but it's a toss up at this point. We might just elect to hang out by the hotel pool for a day instead.
Keren & I have been happily married since 1996, no children. While one of us is a bit more antisocial & vulgar (Mark) the other more than makes up for it with her patient & tolerant demeanor & sweet disposition (Keren). One of us is also very good at sucking up. You guess who.
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