September 6, 2010 is the last day:

http://www.examiner.com/x-50503-LA-Adventure-Parks-Examiner~y2010m8d11-Disneys-California-Adventure-set-to-remove-Maliboomer

That was the first type of "free fall" ride I actually liked. Probably because it doesn't take you up slowly, lol. I wish I could get out there to ride it once more before its gone.

The absolute oddest thing about that ride was the Scream Shields...which usually were covered with previous riders' ...uh...saliva.

I understand why it's being removed, but at the same time, I don't. Sure it doesn't fit Walt Disney's original idea for his parks. It doesn't fit the desired "Victorian" theme for the "new" Paradise Pier. But, they're not replacing it with anything... They're just removing it. One could argue that the nearby Tower of Terror is taking over its duties, but it seems silly to take it down if there's nothing currently planned to replace it.

Though yes, the scream shields made it a more terrifying ride than it might have been otherwise.

Can someone explain to me the point of the scream shields there? I know its to keep the sounds of riders out of the general public of the park, but if Disney built this park apart from Disneyland, why does it have to be so quiet?

No, no, no.

Locals outside the park complained vehemently about noise. Thus the Scream Shields. They did not keep noise out of the park or neighborhoods. IF you screamed, unless you were deaf, you stopped immediately, as you would deafen yourself!

The same reason that the nearby Intamin roller coaster has tunnels on all of its major hills, but all are only half-enclosed, with the closed side keeping sound out of the local area and in the park.

And a rider who insists on screaming in either instance is immediately confronted with echoing booming of his/her own voice. That rider almost invariably then stops the screaming.

I am getting to a certain age where I now find very annoying the squealing of teenage guests, almost always but not universally girls, on rides...some of whom I am nearly certain do it only to annoy others. Sheesh. I'd like to keep my hearing, thank you very much.

Too true. And I won't even mention the trains of kids (probably 6th or 7th grade) who insist on shouting things about Tom Cruise throughout the ride on Flight Deck... Or shout in mock fright on Adventure Express or The Crypt. Not that they're half as bad as the ride operators on those same rides...

Ahh, to be 13 and feel that you simply couldn't get any cooler...

I had never heard of the "scream shields" before. Then I googled it. Oh my.

CedarPointer, who thought for YEARS that the name of the ride was "Mailboomer". Shows how much I know.