Okay, these could be pictures of new municipal sewer pipes being built, for all I can tell, but as the season winds down for many theme park fans around the country, I know that pictures of fresh rail keep many readers happy and warm during their downtime. Enjoy.

Haven't you wished, just once, that these jerks would get what's coming to them?

Well, Six Flags Great America has granted your wish. For today, at least. From the Chicago Tribune:

A Winnetka man was charged with disorderly conduct after he allegedly grabbed and pushed a 14-year-old who clapped when the man was ejected from a ride at Six Flags Great America last week, police said.

Making this incident all the more special... this wasn't some clueless teenage kid the park tossed and prosecuted. It was a 53-year-old man from the lily-white, rich-folk Chicago suburb of Winnetka. (Well, at least it was when I lived in Evanston. And the racial slur he allegedly used against a ride operator sure didn't help win him any benefit of the doubt from the park, I suspect.)

The Trib story quote the suspect as saying that he was "having a bad day."

Well, thanks to the news of Six Flags' prosecution of this fella, my day just got a whole lot better.

But natural disasters can make those inconveniences trivial. As I write this, Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on New Orleans, where the Six Flags amusement park closed during Katrina and never reopened. Last month Tropical Storm Fay dropped what seemed like 10 feet of rain on Florida, soaking the Central Florida theme parks along with much of the rest of the state.

Earlier this summer, a moderate earthquake struck Southern California, rattling visitors to the area's theme parks, though, thankfully, none were injured seriously. Summer also not only brings theme park season to the U.S. Midwest, it brings thunderstorms, and the occasional tornado, too.

Which brings me to our vote of the week:

Have any of these ever affected you, personally? Have they ever affected a theme park visit? Tell us your stories, in the comments, please.

Just click to http://www.themeparkinsider.com/tips/ to get started. There, you can submit your most useful tips when visiting specific theme parks and theme park resorts. They can be about what rides to go on first, what to eat, what to look for, anything.

Here's where it gets cool. Once you've submitted a tip, then you and any other Theme Park Insider reader can vote on it - yes or no. The most popular tips will rise to the top of the list. (And the least popular ones, eventually, will disappear.)

(It's like Digg, but for snippets of advice, instead of for webpages.)

I hope that you'll be generous in sharing your best "insider" tips for getting the most from a theme park visit, and that you will keep checking back to vote on the tips that others have submitted. Over the weekend, as we get more tips in the database, I'll be adding links to park-specific tip lists from each park's listing page, as well as from the home page.

Finally, I am sure that TPI readers have plenty of tips to share on other topics, as well, not just theme parks. So I invite you to beta-test my new site TipReel.com, which is based on this same concept. Tell your friends, too.

Thanks, again, for reading Theme Park Insider.

The press kit came in two deliveries. Yesterday morning, I got a package that included an ornate locked metal box, along with a letter:

You're about to face someone you've never met, but long feared... A key will arrive tomorrow. You'll meet then.

Of course, without the key, you can't open the box (well, unless you snap the rather thin chain - but I played along), so you have to wait until the next day to see what's inside.

And this morning arrived the FedEx envelope with the key.

A strategically placed lipbrush triggered an eerie tune when I opened the jewelry box, which contained a shattered mirror, upon which was scrawled "Welcome to my World." (Bloody Mary's I presume?)

Also in the box were a dried rose and four pictures, each with a message in crayon scribbled on back:

• "Face your fears"
• "What lies behind the mirror"
• "What awaits you"
• "Fear me"

In keeping with such teaser packages, there was no other information about the event. But we can hook you up with that on our Halloween Horror Nights page, or discussion thread.