Long before Knott's was bought out, they made much more of an effort to make it a true theme park as opposed to your run of the mill thrill rides and tank tops type of amusement park. Sadly, those days are gone, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, we can still look back at some of the park's great rides.



Bear-y Tales was a long standing favorite of mine as a child. It was the quintessential dark ride that told the story of a family of bears, coyotes, and a gypsy camp. The bears baked pies and they even went so far as to make the ride smell delicious, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.

Well, all good things come to an end and the folks at Knott's replaced Bear-y Tales with Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, which was a great ride until they implemented some new safety regulations that caused it to stop every ten minutes. They tried to overcome the incessant pauses with a narrative on paleontology, but you can probably imagine how well that went over.



At any rate, I'm leaving you with this wonderful home made ride through of Bear-y Tales on what I am led to believe is the last day the ride was in operation. And, in case you're wondering, the current spot that once featured these great rides is still sitting vacant after all these years...


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DoomBuggies.com is a site dedicated to nothing else but the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. If you find yourself in need of this world famous dark ride between visits, you'll find everything you need at this site to tide you over including this awesome 13 hour clock widget:



You'll also find wallpapers of the Mansion's wallpaper, a death certificate maker, and plenty of history and trivia, so be sure to check it out:

www.doombuggies.com



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Having grown up just a few miles from Disneyland, it was natural that we visited at least once a year. Once I was older, my friends and I would get annual passes every year as it always gave you something to do on a Friday night.



As the years passed, you adjusted to the minor changes the park would make from time to time. A new spook in the Haunted Mansion, some clever banter in Pirates...the complete renovation of Tomorrowland.

Thankfully, Werner Weiss, the curator of Yesterland has stored memories of all the bygone attractions at Disneyland, so you can go back in time to revisit the attractions of your childhood. Personally, I will never forgive Disney for removing the People Mover, but what can I say.

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I don't know how I found this page on youtube, but Aqualung has managed to take away a good two hours of my life with his wryly hysterical reviews of classic NES games.



If you've got some time to kill and feel a bit nostalgic, check out his other reviews Here at Youtube.

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Yep, July 1 is my birthday. I've got to say that it's nice to have a good excuse to do nothing all day. Of course, realizing it's already been a year since your last birthday is a bit disconcerting, but I'll worry about that tomorrow.



Bear just came home and surprised me with a great little homemade card and a bottle of Ancient Age bourbon (hardy-har-har). But on the plus side, I've got me some bourbon and an excuse to drink it.



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As with most things on the web, I'm sure that I'm the last person on Earth to find out about this, but Hulu currently has both seasons of Voltron: Defender of the Universe online for Free.



I stumbled across it last night looking for my daily Conan fix only to realize it was Monday and I'd have to wait (it's a sad day when you no longer stay up late enough for the late show, but that's another story).

Not only was Voltron an awesome cartoon, the toy was the holy grail.

The Defender of the Universe ( the lion version of Voltron ) was absolutely amazing. I was lucky enough to receive one as a gift from my grandparents and it proved to be a formidable weapon during those neighborhood action figure battles.

By formidable I should really say it was a trump card. "Your transformers were all just killed by Voltron. Look, you can't argue, giant robot lion with a sword clearly defeats your robot that turns into a cassette recorder, hands down."

The Voltron argument was also highly effective against any GI Joe, MASK, Go-Bot, Star Wars, He-Man offensive. It's only weakness might have been the Robotech Skull Fighter, but we're still working out the finer details 20 some odd years later.

At any rate, be sure to check out these classic episodes on Hulu before they're gone while we work on some new scintillating stories.



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I was looking through some old folders on the server and realized that there are now quite a few lost stories that don't really come up on the site. There are some that I'll reincorporate to the site, some that are best left forgotten, and some that I'll provide some links to. One of the odd things about having a blog/site is that it makes you how quickly time flies.

So without further ado, here are some of past articles that people who read this site (yes, both of you) may be interested in reading:

• Tron movie review - Because being good at video games can come in handy.
• Omega Man movie review - Did you know that I am Legend was the third remake of this story?
• Interview with Jeremy Smith - The illustrator for Zoo Force, the best comic book ever made
• Watcher in the Woods - What is probably Disney's only attempt at a real horror movie.
• Misery Movie Review - A classic horror movie with the best hobbling scene ever
• Wild River Inn - Maybe the scariest hotel I've ever stayed at. Shortly after our visit, we learned they were busted for running a brothel there...

Well, I'm trying to do better with the site, so stay tuned for a larger, more random assortment of articles and updates.


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The weather was even warmer this weekend, so a little spontaneous camping was in order. It was one of those last minute decisions where we probably spent more time weighing our options that it took to actually swing by the grocery store and head out to the gorge to find a spot. To my surprise, we the campgrounds were dead over the weekend and we did not have any trouble finding a really nice site at Herman Creek...

We did a little hike Saturday morning and walked down to Herman Creek. Like everything else in the gorge, getting there means walking uphill. In this case, the creek was a nice little surprise after going a couple miles on a hot day.


Herman Creek

It's interesting how quickly the temperature drops when you walk down into a chasm like this. Everything just cooled down, and Gertie even jumped in for a little swim. Definitely a reward for hiking on a warm day.

I think we'll be doing a lot of camping this Summer...

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I really can't believe that it's already the middle of March. As far as the weather here is concerned, we might just skip Spring this year. But at any rate, Happy St Patrick's day!



Enticed by the early bird specials, Bear and I prepared our corned beef and cabbage last week, so I guess the only thing left to do to celebrate the true spirit of the Irish is get raging drunk and start a fight. And in the spirit of this holy day, I say sure, whatever it takes.

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While walking Gertie this morning, I noticed that the leaves were starting to change and that can mean only one thing...it's almost time for Halloween Extravaganza 2008. We're busy working on some great new reviews for this year, but in the meantime, you can get your pre-Halloween fix with some of my favorites from years past:

• Simpsons Treehouse of Horror
• The SNL Halloween Special
• Grow Your Own Halloween Monster
• Lost Boys Movie Review

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