I suppose I owe you an explanation. I suggest you go back and read all of my other excuses. They've all been the same. I've been busy at the office.

As some of you may know, I am an investment analyst covering a variety of financial and commodity markets. My focus is on the energy markets, which have been in the headlines in a big way since things began heating up again between the Israelis and Palestine.

One day a few weeks ago, I was busy executing some trades for a big client when the phone rang. It was a representative from the CNNFN Financial Network. CNNFN is a sister cable network to CNN focusing on the investment world. They wanted me to do a live interview on their network within the next two hours. After finding a local TV station that was a CNN affiliate a decision was made and I hopped in my car.

On the way to the studio the cell phone rang (I was borrowing one, I hate cell phones), and it was my office. CNN called back to let us know that the TV station couldn't have the studio ready in time. My segment was bumped. My fifteen minutes of fame ended somewhere on the way to the studio.

Don't worry about me though. My commentary is still featured elsewhere and I'm hopefully a week or so away from beginning a "business update" section on a news radio station in a major city somewhere in the US. I'll have more on that if it becomes official. Right now, they say what I'm writing would be the best stuff on their station, but that I sound bored when I read it. Hmm.

But now on to more important things...

Part One: Coaster 3:16's Vacation In Orlando

I expect to have two vacation days from work this year. One of those was a last-minute decision to go to Orlando for a three-day weekend, flying out May 9 and returning May 12. I knew I would have to miss things and planned on two days at Disney (Friday and Sunday) and one day at my favorite Florida park, Sea World Orlando.

I was to leave my office Thursday at 3:00 pm for a quick shuttle from Allentown, PA to Philadelphia, and then off to Orlando for a 10:30 arrival. The plans were thwarted, though, by fog and rain.

When I checked in at the Allentown airport, I was told that my flight to Philly had been delayed. I would probably make my flight to Orlando, but they couldn't guarantee it. They could book me on a flight to Pittsburgh that was leaving in ten minutes and then on to Orlando after a three-hour layover for an 11:30 arrival.

Not wanting to take the chance that might flight to Philly would be delayed further (the plane still hadn't arrived in Allentown) and being a fan of the Pittsburgh airport, I chose to take the new flight. I was booked and after a quick stop to let my family know of the change of plans, I was on my way.

I walked right onto the plane, sat down, and fell asleep within about two minutes. I woke up to hear the Captain tell us that the flight was delayed due to storms in Pittsburgh, so I went back to sleep for another half hour.

We arrived in Pittsburgh at about 6:45 and I had until 9:00 for my flight to Orlando. I ate about three times in that period and walked the A, B, and C concourses a few more times before it was time to board.

I tried to board, anyway, but they had computer problems that led to not only an oversell, but also a big time oversell of the seats on the plane. By the time they gathered all of the volunteers and figured out just which seats had been assigned twice, there were five people without seats: two couples and me. Four more people volunteered, and as luck would have it, the airline chose to give their seats to the two couples. As I was about to give up hope, one of the attendants told me that there was an empty seat in first class and that it would be mine.

He handed me my ticket and I was about to walk to the plane when another attendant showed up and said that the seat had already been given away. They walked back and sure enough, I was without a seat.

Night one of my Orlando vacation was to be spent in Pittsburgh.

It was the standard fare from here. Me, and about twenty other would-be passengers, were shuttled off to a nearby hotel. I did get a first class seat for the 7:45 Friday morning flight to Orlando, and free round trip airfare to anywhere in the Continental US.

I was disappointed, but could understand that these things happen. However, I was not going to make it to Animal Kingdom, my first planned park for 9:00 am arrival. So, the decision was made to skip this park altogether and go straight to Disney/MGM Studios Friday morning.

Friday was rather straightforward. My flight was on time, the waffles were airline waffles, and after another nap I was in Orlando.

I haven't quite understood why, for such a major tourist area, the Orlando airport is so small and dirty. You would think they could have added some more shops and restaurants by now. Whatever.

Only one rental car agency had a line this morning. You guessed it - mine. But, twenty-five minutes later I was in my car for the weekend and on my way to Disney/MGM.

I arrived at the Studios parking lot at 11:37 am. It had been about fifteen years since I'd even been to the Walt Disney World complex. Seems to me that there was just two parks and a hotel or two the last time I was there. Therefore, quite a bit of Disney, including MGM, was new to me.

There weren't many cars in the parking lot, but I didn't know how to gauge crowds without actually being in the park. I was lucky enough to hop onto a tram right away and before I knew it I was walking into a Disney park.

My first impression of MGM wasn't necessarily a good one. While I certainly didn't see anything to claim about, it just didn't seem to have the atmosphere I was expecting. It didn't "feel" like the Disney parks that I remembered. It didn't bother me, really, but it was something that I noticed immediately.

My first stop was Tower Of Terror; a ride that virtually everybody told me was a must. The sign out front said that the Stand-By line had a 45-minute wait, so I walked over to check out Rock'N'Rollercoaster next door. That only had a published ten-minute wait, so I walked back to the Tower, picked up a Fast Pass for 1:00 to 1:55, and then went back and got in line for RnR.

It turned out the wait was less than five minutes.

I still say that rollercoasters have no place at a heavily themed park. I think its because riding rollercoasters is something that I do every weekend. I don't want to go someplace that is supposed to take me to another world, and then do something I do often anyway. That is why I didn't care for Islands of Adventure. I stood through these elaborately themed queues, and then just got on a roller coaster.

RnR is at least a little bit different. The ride itself is different from most coasters. It is even different from the Flights of Fear at Kings Dominion and Kings Island. The theming within the ride area is minimal, but the trains are nice and the ride is smooth. I would say that the ride itself falls short of the FOF/Premier spaghetti bowl coasters, but it was good enough for me.

I considered RnR something I had to do, but honestly felt that I didn't care to ride it again. I was at Disney. I wanted something different than the norm.

I still had plenty of time before my ToT Fast Pass, so I checked out the line for The Great Movie Ride. Well, there was no line. Now this was a Disney attraction. Yes, the storyline was a bit hokey, but from the moment you entered the queue area, until the end of the ride, I felt like a part of the movies. Our guide did a great job and the animatronics were well done, I thought. None of the scenes lasted long enough to bore, me, which is exactly the way it should be done. It was especially great to see Gene Kelly singing Singin' In The Rain and the Wizard of Oz scene, even though I don't like the movie, was nearly perfect. I walked out of TGMR with a huge smile on my face and a feeling like my vacation had finally begun.

Since the Great Movie Ride's line was so short, I had the time to walk around a bit more, until I eventually made it back to the Backlot Tour. There was no line here, either, so I decided to do it. The opening scene/presentation was decent, but nothing really spectacular. It looked like it was something special for those participating, but for somebody in the audience, it wasn't very special at all.

I had to wait for the tram ride for a few minutes, but it didn't take too long at all. The tram ride was also unspectacular, in my opinion. The canyon water scene was fun to watch, but it wasn't worthy of being the featured part of what should be the park's main attraction. The tour wasn't bad, but it just didn't do it for me. I'm not really into special effects and the types of movies that most of the props were from anyway, so it just wasn't quite my sort of thing.

I still wasn't really disappointed, so I made my way back to Tower of Terror to use my Fast Pass. The sign up front still said 45 minutes, but with a Fast Pass I was literally able to walk right on the ride.

Tower of Terror most definitely did not disappoint. It was almost as good as the hype. My particular ride was fun, since there was a 12-year old girl on board who did not want to ride. The rest of her group (three more 12-year olds) was trying to help her get over it. The ride is interesting to start, with one fabulous special effect. We eventually made it to where you were supposed to drop as a surprise, but that was ruined for me when the group of girls counted down "3-2-1-now" for the scared girl in their group.

While I didn't get the full effect of the surprise on ToT, I did get to hear that girl scream for 40 straight seconds and I still got to ride what is easily a world class attraction on nearly every front. Tower of Terror is truly a can't miss ride on any trip to the Disney Resort.

I had managed to walk around the park for a while and by this time it was now a few minutes before 2:00 pm. There was a "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It" show scheduled for 2:35 that I wanted to see, and the other attraction at the park that I really wanted to do was the 25-minute Muppetvision 3D. I figured the only way I'd be able to do both before leaving the park for Epcot at 3:00 pm was if a new Muppet show was just beginning as I got to the theater. It took me a little longer to find Muppetvision than I expected, but when I did get there I was thrilled to see that a new show was indeed just about to begin.

Like the Great Movie Ride, just being inside Muppet Theater is an experience for those of us who grew up watching the Muppet Show. Seeing Stadler and Waldorf up there and feeling like I was actually back to those good ole days was awesome. As for the movie itself, it starts off great and funny, but it seemed like it ran out of steam. I'm not a fan of 3D to begin with, and again only one or two effects were any good as far as I'm concerned. Still, I walked away from Muppet Theater with a huge smile and feeling like this was one of my favorite attractions at MGM.

The end of the Muppet attraction gave me just enough time to get to the Millionaire show. The theater is almost exactly the same as the TV show, which is really cool since every audience member enters through the tunnel that a guest or Regis would walk out of. Since I was there just before it began, I got to walk on stage with a near-full audience already seated.

Millionaire is exactly what you would expect, with them playing a few games, as the audience plays along. The best score in the audience gets to come on stage when the contestant's turn has ended. The host for Millionaire (Kevin or Roger?) was very good. I could see him making it national some day. The experience was worth it, and had I been staying the full day at MGM I definitely could see me going back for another show.

But, I was not meant to stay the whole day at MGM. I had put in about two and a half hours and had enjoyed it very much. Like I said earlier, the atmosphere of the park didn't seem special, but the attractions did. With the exception of the Backlot Tour, I felt that each attraction was at the very least "excellent", with some down right fantastic.

I now had bigger fish to fry. It was time to head over to what had been my favorite Disney park in each of my three visits as a kid, Epcot Center. Would it be as much fun as I remembered? That's what I wondered, and what you'll have to wonder (if you care) until the next View is published on May 30.

Clearing Up The Hershey Box

If you recall, in my last column I mentioned that while driving by Hersheypark this winter I noticed a wooden box over the bottom of the lift hill of the Great Bear. I received several emails notifying me that this box protects the chain mechanism from the winter elements. I guess that is pretty obvious now that I think about it, but I had never noticed it on the Great Bear or any other ride before. Apparently, it's been on the Great Bear during the winter every year of its existence.

Getting Ready For Xcelerator

Knott's Berry Farms, and local coaster riders, are starting to get ready for the new Intamin Xcelerator ride. The track is complete and the park/Intamin has already begun the pull through portion of the testing process. The park is aiming for an early June opening, and this is certain to be something different for Southern California. It looks to me like an S&S Thrust Air plus something special.

Speaking of Thrust Air, Paramount's Kings Dominion's Hypersonic has not operated yet this season, but is currently in testing stages again reportedly in hopes of a Memorial Day re-opening. I am one of those hoping the park can get the ride operating reliably soon.


Well, after another one of my unannounced two-month vacations, View From The Back is back again. Work remains hectic and my time is limited, but I've got a lot to write about. The Orlando trip should take up the bulk of the next two issues, including Epcot and Sea World next time.

Please tell your friends that the View is back. With the new server here at RollerCoasterWorld, I expect to see some great things throughout the site in the weeks and months to come. Keep coming back to see what's new.

I'll be back on May 30 with more from Orlando and whatever else comes up in the meantime. Until then, take care and take a back seat ride once for me...

                                                                                 Coaster 3:16

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You can reach him at:  Coaster_316@yahoo.com