No theme park visit today: Go vote!

November 3, 2008, 10:26 PM · There will be no Tuesday Park Visit on Theme Park Insider this week, as Tuesday is Election Day in the United States. (So, I figured, no one was gonna read a theme park trip report on Election Night anyway.)

We will be back next week, with a visit to a location yet to be determined (though I am leaning toward Universal Studios Hollywood - anyone got any picture requests?)

In the meantime, I'd like to encourage all my U.S. readers over age 18 who haven't voted yet to get out and do so. I'll skip the endorsements, save one: If you, like me, live in or around Pasadena, California, I hope that you will vote in favor of Measure TT, the school bond issue that will help build a new gym at my kids' school, as well as to fund improvements at dozens of other local schools.

In fact, no matter where you live, if there is a school bond issue on your ballot, I urge you to vote for it. Educating every single child in a community, no matter what their medical condition or family situation, is horrifically expensive, and few communities allocate enough money to do it well.

Bond issues help plug that gap, paying for new and repaired buildings, helping districts save money on rent and utility bills. (We saved $50-100 a month by installing a new fridge and heater-A/C in our home. Imagine what a building as large as a school could save per month.)

More theme parks ought to build "E ticket" attractions, and more communities ought to build "E ticket" schools. If kids deserve the best on their vacations, they deserve the best while at home.

If you don't like the direction of your local school district, don't take it out on the kids by voting against a bond issue. Get involved, and take it out on the school board by voting out incumbents in the next election. (FWIW, I think the board in Pasadena's doing great in turning around what had been a terrible situation.)

Anyway, let's all hope for the best for the U.S. and our local communities tomorrow, and I'll see you in the parks soon!

Replies (15)

November 4, 2008 at 12:33 PM · Everybody should vote! Its too important not too!
November 4, 2008 at 12:53 PM · Yes, please vote, but only once please.
November 4, 2008 at 1:44 PM · Please vote! I wish I could, but I am a Canadian citizen living in the US...and to those Floridians who have yet to vote, PLEASE vote NO on proposition 2!!! This will greatly affect my life, so I deeply pray it gets voted down
November 4, 2008 at 2:25 PM · Go Vote if you haven't yet....
November 4, 2008 at 3:52 PM · I voted. No wait, which goes to show you that long waits to vote aren't inevitable. If someone has to wait hours to vote, that shows that someone in charge decided not to send an adequate number of machines to that polling place. Talk about the real vote fraud!
November 4, 2008 at 10:33 PM · Time for WDI to start working on the Obama AA!!! YAY!!!
November 4, 2008 at 11:59 PM · Hall of Presidents is going to be awesome! Think about it: 42 white dudes and one African American and after the African American speaks, Abraham Lincoln! This show is going to take on new symbolic value!
November 5, 2008 at 12:15 AM · Amen! Like Ive said before, this is really the only place to see all 44 Presidents side by side, and it will really paint the perfect picture of how far this country has come from President Lincoln to President Obama
November 5, 2008 at 5:58 AM · We've heard a lot of talk about CHANGE for the last year or so, and not one word about limiting the production and use of the Vekoma Boomerang. It is as if no one is listening! I just don't understand. Maybe the new president will take this matter much more seriously than did his predecessor. One can only hope.
November 5, 2008 at 11:16 AM · We won the bond issue, 75 percent to 25 percent (55 percent needed to pass). Thank you, Pasadena!

I think that maybe Disney ought to let the new president speak, again, this time. I suspect the reaction would be a bit more welcoming that when W spoke.

November 5, 2008 at 8:18 PM · Robert, check out this article (I posted it on another thread). The prez will speak if he wants to...it is not entirely up to Disney. They will ask, but he has to agree. Clinton and Bush agreed (despite the jeers/cheers that both their animatronic clones received), and Obama doesn't seem to shy away from the limelight, so I am sure he will toe the [party] line as well. ;)
November 5, 2008 at 11:39 PM · Disney's newest addition: Barack 'N' Roller Coaster

Gotta say, the response to Obama is huge in Canada. Congrats to him and congrats to McCain for fighting valiantly.

Also, I'm a dual citizen but could not figure how to vote if I was born and currently reside in a different country. Wanted to vote, but couldn't figure out how.

November 6, 2008 at 11:23 AM · Joshua, If you are registered to vote in the US and living outside the US, you would have to apply for a provisional ballot, which is similar to the mail-in ballots. There would be differences, such as some ballots would require you to write in your choice and would not include any state issues unless you have a specific state address for your registeration and residence for at least part of the year. Kind of like the snow-brids who flit back and forth depending on the weather where they are at.
Robert, I repect your view on school bond issues, but I could not support the bond issue in the area my mother lives because the school board has so miss managed the money they got from the state that 10 years later the high school is still in temporary buildings. They've spent over 1/2 of the state money on architects and engineers to design different high schools that none of them would agree on. It is very frustrating and in the mean time they would not consider using the middle school buildings they abandoned because it was not modern enough or designed for high schoolers (their reasons as printed in editorials in the local paper). The neighboring school district has done a better job with their money slowly replacing the temporary buildings with an ongoing building plan that has resulted (in 10 years) in a campus of K - 6 classrooms that allow room for expansion in the class sizes as needed; all of that without a bond, using the tax money supplied by the county and state.
The bond measure barely passed on its 5th try so this has been a hot botton issue where my mom lives for a long time and we will continue to go to the board meetings dispite the fact that we do not have children in the school district since those folks will be spending our money (I own property in the same area).
I'll climb off of my soapbox now.
November 6, 2008 at 11:55 AM · "Barack 'N' Roller Coaster" made me laugh for a solid 10 seconds. Thanks.

LJ, you gotta get involved. The kids in the district deserve a great school board, one that won't waste any money. Bond issues can be a great way for a district to save operating costs by modernizing, but great management has to be there. In the long term, defeating bond issues won't cause a board or a management to change. Electing better school board members will. That's what we did in Pasadena several years back. Please, all TPI readers, get informed and involved with local school politics. Your communities will be so much better for it.

November 9, 2008 at 3:30 PM · Glad to help, Robert.

Thanks for the help, LJ, but I tried calling several sources (American Embassy in Ottawa, Idaho State Voting Commission, etc.), but had no luck.

This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Park tickets

Weekly newsletter

New attraction reviews

News archive