Gone Back to Legoland

Day two of our vacation this year, as noted, was Legoland day!!!

As you can see, they are gearing up for Halloween, and there were touches of it all around!!!

We started heading towards the Mini Land area, always cool to see, and if they've added anything new. We did drop into the Ninjago ride on the way past.

There was a double headed dragon on the monument in the DC area.

Of course, a shot of the Capitol biulding so they can make a spurious accusation that you're attemting to overthrow the government...

As I mentioned, it's been a while since we've been to Legoland, since before The Lego Movie came out, so of course there's movie related stuff that's been added. This was in the build area, suspended from the ceiling.

And a big head of Princess Unikitty, one of my favorite characters from the movie.

I'm not sure what area this was supposed to be, but as you can see, there's a big flying monkey with a skeletal wing on the roof.

The only addition I found in Mini Land was their attempt to go green, wind turbines added. They turn. Ironically, they actually use power instead of generating it!!! The other change is that they had a bunch of Star Wars scenes last time I visited, which were gone now, I wonder if it was a limited time presentation. Didn't get to every area, I know there was a full size Vader and X-Wing there last time, too.

They have the adjacent Sea Life Aquarium, I'm not sure how much business it does, but somewhat related, they've added in a submarine ride with fish and sharks.

We had headed over to the far side of the park, searching for the Sky Cruiser ride (that you pedal around an eleated track) pictured in a previous post here but it's been removed. Just a bit further is The Lego Movie World area. One of the cats from the second movie, and the biulding in the background is shaped like Princess Unikitty's head. It houses Emmet's Flying Adventure, a hanging flight simulator. Emmet has constructed a triple-decker flying couch!!! It's one of the better rides there, but was also the one we had the longest wait for, almost 10 minutes!!! It was honestly a great time to go, almost every ride was a walk-on, and several of the better ones (both coasters operating, The Dragon was shut down and this one) they ran us through twice!!!

I hadn't picked up on the fact that the cat lady in the 2nd movie was named Mrs. Scratchen-post!!!

And, finally, the internal steampunk workings of a unicorn!!!

Wanna Go Scream Punk???

Don't know that I've made mention here, but starting this year I'm on the weekend crew at work. It was a few years that I'd put my name in when there'd be an opening, and finally they took me on. Not only do you get a weekday swap, but they bump your pay by $1 to sweeten the deal. So, one of the advantages, I get Fridays off now. Yesterday we went to the local Six Flags park, Magic Mountain, to (finally!) take advantage of some of the payback from the epic fail at Six Flags Great America!!! After I'd gone off on the park director there for their screw up and they're lame attempt at a buy off, he asks me what I thought would be appropriate. Well... I honestly wasn't prepared for that!!! Thought we were gonna have to go round and round before we got anywhere, so off the top of my head, I said I thought a full refund of the season passes I'd bought would be right, along with passes back to his scummy park to try and get on the one coaster I'd wanted to ride (which he kicked with, but I never did get the chance to make it back) along with the $25 of park vouchers & complimentary drink voucher.

He was good about it, refunding the season pass price that very day, and sending an Email with the code to redeem for new passes back at the local park. Apparently doing the refund voided the passes we had, so new ones needed issued.

So, last time we'd gone was on Memorial Day to activate our passes. The two I'd wanted to hit while we were there were Full Throttle, new since last time I'd been there, and the just re-opened Twisted Colossus. The former kept breaking down, and the latter had a 3+ hour line by the time we made it in. Didn't get on either. It was truly a terrible day to go.

The area around Twisted Colossus has been re-themed as the "Scream Punk" zone. That's mostly what I've got shots of here, the theming elements. There's a lot of pipe construction with valve wheels and gauges, and a lot of gears.

The second photo you can even see what looks to be a flex fan from a diesel truck.

And the fourth shot features three automotive flexplates, entwined with bicycle style chain. I don't think those go together.

Off to one side they have the hemi powered steam tractor. Every few minutes it does a blast of steam from it's stack.

A closer inspection reveals that it appears to be a genuine hemi engine!!! I was getting the closer shot for the Monster Energy coil cover.

I would have liked to see the show, "Kwerk" that they have in the GearWorks Theatre, but it wasn't going on while we were in the area. They've got that, the old (relatively) Scream coaster, and the flagship Twisted Colossus in the area. Needs MORE, I think.

They do have a new sandwich shop and a gift stand, too, but I still say more...

SO, about that Twisted Colossus... Last year for my birthday they closed down the Colossus coaster. It still held it's own in my opinion, with an awesome drop and great air time whoops, but it was old and a rough ride. I always think all they have to do is put new bearings or wheels on these old coasters, but I'm no expert.

Shortly after, they announced they were going to re-make it. Nice. While they were working on it, it caught on fire!!! From that point, I always thought they should re-title it the Phoenix, but no, they went with Twisted Colossus.

More Steam Punk theming on the line going in, and the coaster cars themselves.

It used to have two tracks, but they changed that... kinda. Now it makes one circuit of the track, and comes back for a second trip through on the other track!!! Two times through for the wait of one!!! Good deal!!!

Seems like it doesn't have quite the drop of the old one, but it now has twisted barrel roll inversions, and several of what they call "High Five" effects, where you're opposite the other train. Oh, and SMOOTH like a dream!!! Probably my #2 favorite coaster now, behind the always epic X2 (which we didn't make it on again... from this point on, don't know if I'll be able to make it again, they're calendar doesn't have many Fridays, my off day).

AND!!! on the way out, I found on the ground my very own Steam Punk Souvenir!!!

Gatsby

Tonight was the firstborn's Winter Formal at his school. The theme was "A Night at Gatsby", 20's attire encouraged.

He told me this, and I told him, "I've got a 3-piece you're going to want to use!!!" 3-piece works for most occasions, and fit the bill nicely.

His lady looked amazing. To hear her tell it, it took the better part of the day.

Oh, and she was quite impressed with how he looked. I told them that they both clean up pretty nice. (Truth be told, she always looks good)

The second picture is the only one I actually took, in the alley. The rest are pics of pics from what I assume to be a photo booth.

Of course, I had to ask him how it went. Naturally, the only acceptable answer would be, "Great!!!"

Wanna Go Steampunk?

Here's something they did at my work a couple weeks back. They had an artwork design contest using industrial supplies sourced from the company. They had done it last year, also, and I'd been thinking I could make something very cool to enter, but never came up with an idea. This year I came up with this idea. My son could really use a desk lamp, and he's appreciator of the Steampunk aesthetic.

My original idea was to use primarily copper and brass fittings, but it turns out, even with the employee pricing, those are some expensive materials!!! Therefore, I made it out of mostly black cast iron and aluminum fittings. It still added up, but only to around less than half of what it could have been.

I had a lot of ideas that changed over time with the project, and once it was as it at the end of the initial construction, I wasn't pleased with the results, so it was already being redesigned in my head as I entered it in the competition. At the beginning concept, I was thinking of having a valve at the base, and the light shade an oblong copper float with one side cut out. A bit later I was thinking the slick thing to do would have been to mount a rotary switch near the base and use a valve wheel on it to turn it on and off. Where the power cord comes in I covered it with mesh sleeving to make it look like that's where the gas or steam or whatever is supposed to run it comes in (which, now that I think about it, it does!!!)

I finished the modifications today, which consisted of replacing the pipe lengths with shorter pieces, especially for the back end where the cord enters. The major issues were that the back pipe was way too long (I'd been thinking running it long like that with the adapter and the brass fitting back there thinking that would help lower the center of gravity and counter balance the light shade's weight) and bumped into everything, and the height made it a bit ungainly. Nice thing about the construction, it's pretty easy to change things around, just unscrew the area you want to change!!!

I'm pretty pleased with it now, but just one more thing I've got in mind. I've ordered an LED spotlight to give it the harsh glare that seems like it would be fitting with this design!!! Also, an incandescent bulb would probably be a bad idea with no venting on the shade. I entitled it "Steampunk Sparklamp". I got a lot of positive comments from my co-workers. A funny question I got asked a couple times was if it works!!! The other thing I got asked about was the gauge. Of course, the gauge was for nothing but aesthetics, but I told everyone that asked that if the gauge shows over twenty pounds, you'd better run!!! I had been thinking of perhaps offering it for sale online for around the retail cost of the supplies (or with the reserve set there, if on an auction site) and see if there's any takers. I'm good with it if there aren't, but if there are I could make another fairly easily, and possibly change things around a bit.

Of course, in the course of construction, I come up with other ideas how I could it all again... only different!!! I was thinking adding in an hour meter would be an interesting touch, but for a really functional touch would be to have it USB powered... and add in a USB hub, probably concealed behind an ornamental brass hatch, maybe sourced from a pocket watch!!!

Last year the entrants were a bit weak, in my opinion. The two I remember were a duct tape wallet, and a layer cake made of buckets. I came in thinking I'd be a lock for best in show, but the other entrants this year were way better!!!

The first shot, the metal flowers, took best in show. Behind it is a chess set made of nuts, bolts, and washers. Even the board is made of square washers!!!

The next shot??? What is it??? The flowers weren't there when I put mine in, and that was the one where I thought to myself that I wasn't going to win the top spot. It wasn't going when I got there, but later in the week it was running. It was entitled "Brass Teardrop", and has a gear motor driving an offset under the first layer. This has a series of strings going to the concentric rings and brass ball in the middle, and as it rotates, the rings and sphere bob up and down in a wave type motion. Fairly epic, but just about the least practical of all the entrants, IMHO.

More flowers, this time constructed from the pages of a first aid pamphlet, dyed with layout fluid. Final shot is a few concrete planters, placed on top of woven rope mats!!!

I already revealed the best in show winner, and the brass teardrop took the most intricate. My creation took most serviceable. I don't remember the other categories, but all but one of us won, and the other one got judges special mention. I completely agree with all the verdicts!!!

Renaissance, Man!!!

Last weekend the boys and I did something I think about most every year, but until then never managed to do. We went to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire!!! It was a great time!!!

It gave us a chance to geek it up a little, too. I had a white shirt with a black and white pattern on either side of the opening that was plausible. The older broke out his ninja gauntlets and boots, tied bandannas around the ankles (they're kinda small now...) and found a black shirt with white on either side of the opening, kinda opposite to mine. The younger had the shoulder guard and cape from last year's Halloween, this time with a dark hoodie, that came out pretty good!!!

First place we saw right after entering was an eatery. However, they had a helmet on the table that the younger wanted to try on. Went pretty good with his outfit, actually!!!

Next place we stopped in at was a couple of brothers doing a juggling act!!! They were great, both at juggling and at the routine and theatrics!!! As witness to their juggling skills, the wooden battle ax wasn't part of their props, but something the kid in the front row was holding!!!

But THIS was one of the main attractions for the older boy!!!

Turkey leg!!! I bought myself a bratwurst with sauteed onions.

Down to the bone!!! Which he saved, originally thinking to give it to the neighbor's dog, but now he's thinking knife handle.

The younger had wanted to bring a bow and arrows... This worked out better, I think!!!

Aye, the only picture I got of myself!!!

Geese and goslings in the pond there. Another first, the grounds there I've been driving by for more than 20 years, probably, and this was the first time I've actually been in!!! I've got more pictures I may do as another post...

And there's the older, wearing the younger's shoulder guard & cape arrangement. Works nicely, huh???

The younger had to take it off, to go on the trampoline-bungee cord rig there!!!

Dr. Who reference FTW!!! There was a tad of that other places here and there, too. In fact, the older had been considering going as the Dr. to this event, too.

One of the other things we were impressed by was the falconry show.

Owls, hawks, and a peregrine falcon. The peregrine falcon went off on a little tangent a couple of times, going after other birds flying through the area!!!

The joust "to the death" was a great spectacle, too. Hint for photography, though, don't get a seat directly behind a pole!!!

After one was knocked from his steed, various other combat ensued. Not only implementing a bullwhip, but lighting it on fire!!! The first few cracks after dousing and igniting it produced impressive balls of fire!!!

What, exactly, are you proposing here???

Fairly late in the afternoon... he wasn't just putting it on, he was OUT!!!

Confused???

Steampunk goes just fine at the faire, too!!!

And one (well, two) last things as an attraction...

Pushed up,

pushed together,

and displayed nicely!!!