Well, I guess I'm grateful this trip turned into a night at Six Flags (it was supposed to only be a shopping trip to Strongsville), but since I have expectations of how a park should be run based on my many years as a CP passholder, this park just fails to deliver. To think it has so much potential. Ride for ride, I think it can compete with CP, especially with the addition of a hyper (hopefully). There are just too many kinks in other areas that need to be ironed out first.
My friend and I arrived at the park around 5 PM to process our SF passes (bought to save money when we go to SFGAm later in the month). Driving into the park, my first view of X-Flight filled me with anticipation...that is until I realized there was no one in line and all three trains were sitting idle...DOWN for the day, as the sign at the front of the park confirmed.
Well, then we went to process our passes. I actually give SF props for an efficent pass processing setup. Even though CP's has become much more efficient this year, SF still has them beat for quickness.
Entering the park, I also noticed no trains were running on Villain. OK, so not only is the new ride down, but so is my favorite ride there. Not a good start for the day. I wasn't in the greatest of moods.
Our first ride was Batman, which put me in a better mood. Screw the floorless effect; gotta ride back on this one! The drop of air off the mid-course brake run in the back is a textbook example of great airtime. Funny that all my favorite parts of this ride are the non-inversion elements! The wait was only about 15 minutes, but the ride ops were doing everything they could to stack two trains regularly. It amazes me how the Raptor ride ops can run 3 trains with little/no stacking while this ride, which is quite a bit longer, always stacks. On a later ride, the op made the shirtless guy riding next to me get his shirt from the platform and put it on after the harnesses had already been locked, causing quite a delay. At CP, this would have been caught before the guy even entered the loading station. This is why SF needs to put a worker at their station entrances - to catch things like this and to do height measurements (not on the platform where it will slow capacity). I also tripped over everybody's bags when I was walking off the platform. I guess I agree with Jeff that this is really irritating, but I think boxes on the platform would solve this instead of CP's new approach (but that's a whole different topic).
After Batman, we walked onto Raging Wolf Bobs, which I think is an almost total waste of time. No airtime (except for one hill - the water wing turn)is one minus, but the biggest demirit is the fact that this is probably the roughest coaster I've ever ridden. Now I enjoy the roughness on some woodies, like SOB, but this was just too much. Maybe it's the trailered trains, but I think it's overall neglect. Yuck! This is a case where the ride was too rough to be fun.
After the Bobs, we walked over to the Villain to see what the problem was. The op told me that the ride system started operating in Maintenance Mode. I'm surprised he told me. Anybody know what this means? Is it a computer problem or does a part of the ride really require maintenance? I think CP employees are trained not to tell anything to guests who ask what's wrong with rides when they shut down, but this must not be the case with SF. Well the ride never opened and I didn't get to ride my baby. :(
Passing up the long Double Loop line, we decided to ride the hang n' bang, Serial Thriller. If this ride has a supposed Western theme, I wish they would paint it Western colors and give it a Western name, for God's sake! Last year, I waited an hour for this thing due to one train operation and thought it to be a huge waste of time. This year, there was a walk on wait with two trains running, and I actually enjoyed the intensity of the ride, despite the headbanging. This proves that a long wait CAN affect your enjoyment of a ride! My friend and I rode it back-to-back, actually. The trains were stacking like mad, but since the lines were short, I really didn't care.
After this, it was on to the Big Dipper. I was excited since I've never been on it (it was closed when I visited last year). The capacity on this thing was horrible - one train with a separate loading and unloading stop and SLOW intervals between the car moving. What should have been a five minute wait was a half hour. We still snagged two rides during the day. The first was in the back. Wow, whiplash airtime! The fourth drop is the most violent "air-lat" moment I've ever experienced. For the first time in my life, I am grateful for a trim brake (which comes right before it). The pullouts on the hills of this ride are VERY abrupt so you go from ejector airtime to being slammed back down into the seat. Needless to say, I loved it! Sigh, they don't make em like they used to! I just wish SF could put a little TLC into this woodie. It is unnecessarily rough in many spots, and heck, it's only 65 feet tall! Some simple retracking and work on the trains would do wonders! By the way, are those NAD Century Flyers? They seem like it but it is hard to tell since they are in such bad shape. The train makes a loud BANG when they transfer from the unloading to the loading deck, which does not sound healthy at all. More confusion while people threw their bags onto the unloading platform from the loading side, especially for us since we were waiting for the back and had to let everybody through.
After this, it was a 5 minute wait for a ride in the back of Superman. What can I say? Loved it last year, loved it this year. I really can't complain about the operation on this one. For one train operation, it is very efficient.
Mr. Hyde's was also down for the day, which made me think, "You never see this many major rides down at CP at one time." Yeah, because CP takes care of their rides!
After being mad with ride closures, my friend and I decided to hit Batman, Big Dipper, and Superman once more and then call it a day (although our plans would change). On Big Dipper, we took seat 1-3 and were ejected to some standing airtime on all the hills. Some retracking and this could be an AWESOME roller coaster.
While on Superman, my friend looked over, and A TRAIN WITH PEOPLE ON IT WAS RUNNING ON X-FLIGHT!
We ran there after Superman and found that a substantial wait had built up. Well, at any ride at CP, it would have been a 20 minute wait, but due to one-train operation and a brief delay, the line ended up being an hour and a half! Oh well, we were just glad the dumb thing opened! Of course, we were "lucky" enough to get directly behind three drunk smokers for that time period. One of them had to use the bathroom really bad but didn't want to lose his place in line after waiting an hour, so he urinated in a plastic pop bottle (filled all 24 oz. of it) and then dumped it out all over the stones on the side of the queue. I was shocked. Chalk this up as another thing on the list of "Things that will never happen at Cedar Point." Of course, CP has people working in the queue and security guards at their busy rides to make sure things like this don't happen!!!
OK, on to X-Flight itself. Besides the horrible capacity of one train with long loading times (we calculated about 200 - 400 people per hour), I can't complain about the ride. We rode in the last seat. I thought the ops stapled me in too tight, but that changed when I actually got on the ride! The first turn to the flying position is the most scared I've been on a ride in a long time. The loop almost ripped my face off, the in-line twists were great, and the helix was awesome. It seems much faster when you're on the ride than it does watching it in line! Great ride, although maybe not exactly classic, and the ride did not justify the horrible capacity of the night. Riding it at twilight was pretty cool. Definitely a unique, world-class thrill ride, though.
After this, we got two more nighttime rides on Batman, which were sweet, but I would have rather had those night rides on Villain. Oh well. Mediocre day - great rides, horrible operations.
Other general complaints: Can the theming be any more inconsistent? Dodgems in the Western area? Huey Luis playing in the 50's area? Where's the distinct themed areas that can be found at other Six Flags parks? The theming here all runs together and is overall ineffective. They really need to work on that!
Also, the rides make a lot more weird noises than they do at CP...sort of unnerving, espcially the Big Dipper.
Trash??? It's everywhere! That's just what a park needs to make a good impression...filth.
The lake looks in sad shape around Serial Thriller and Batman, and weeds abound everywhere. Someone needs to mow stuff down! Bring CP's landscapers in.
We never got over to the Wildlife side. I hope to do this on a later visit. Maybe this will give me a better opinion of the way the park is run.
I know I have compared everything to CP in this review, which may be unfair, but I can't help not doing it, and neither will tourists from Ohio who go here expeciting another Cedar Point. Neglect and lethargy are problems that need to be dealt with, as is (the lack of) efficiency. I really want to see Six Flags give CP a run for their money, but despite having the rides, they still have miles to go in other areas!
This LOOOOOOOOONG review has deprived me of an hour of sleep. I hope those of you who read the whole thing enjoyed it! :)
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Coasters...the best natural buzz available.