PROLOGUE:
I was aching to go to a big amusement park...so I convinced my parents to take us to Six Flags Worlds of Adventure! They aren't exactly parkgoing types, so I told them that they could stay at the Wildlife side and my sis and I could go to the Wild Rides side. It worked!
THE TRIP:
We arrived at the park at around 11:30 and parked over on the Wildlife side, much to my dismay. The thought of walking that giant boardwalk in 80 degree humid weather did not appeal to me. However, just seeing those rides calling for me to ride them made the walk go much faster:).
Our (my sister and I) first ride was Batman: Knight Flight. The wait was around 20 minutes and they were running two trains with no stacking. Since this was our first ride on B:KF we decided to ride in the front to take advantage of the floorless design. Let me tell you, this is now my favorite "normal" coaster. The coaster builds up a lot more speed than you think it will...at thats before the lift! Going over the top of the lift and seeing the park below you is amazing. The drop is wonderful and just keeps on gaining speed. The loop was tall, what more can I say. The two turns after the loop were pretty intense, as was the cobra roll. Braking was minimal and we flew through the corkscrews, the helix and the S-turn. What a great ride! 5/5
Next we walked over to Villian. The wait was about 15 mintues and once up into the station, we decided to go with the back seat. I loved the ride, but my sister didn't. She said it banged her up too much and now she has vowed never to go on another wooden coaster. I pity her, she won't know what she's missing. I didn't get much airtime and I could see the trick-track more than I could feel it, but the overall ride experience was great. Even though they weren't extreme, I could feel the forces at work. Overall another good ride. 4/5
Both of us were now hungry and thirsty, so we decided to get something to eat. In our park map, we looked for the first restaraunt that mentioned "air-conditioning." The Juke Box Cafe. We both bought a delicious stacked club sandwhich which came with great (albiet small side of - ) potato salad. The sandwhiches were huge and good and quenched our hunger, as did our rediculously expensive bottled waters. Lunch was over 21 bucks. Expensive.
After lunch we headed over to X-Flight. The que-line was about 75 minutes long, which was surprising. I thought the wait would be much more, it being a brand new, unique-to-this region rollercoaster. At one point a man started cutting in line, saying he had gone to the bathroom and needed to catch up to his party. A ride-op overseeing the line quickly and efficiently took care of the problem (sending him to the back of the line). The crews seemed happy and awake, which is more than could be said for the ones at the other rides. Although, at one point, they nearly dispatched a train in station one without flipping the track over. My faith in their awakeness dropped:). We chose the front seat and were not disappointed by the ride. Smooth and powerful is all I can say. If there was one problem with it I would have to say a lack of big intensity throughout the entire ride. The loop was great though! I walked off feeling I could tackle any coaster. 5/5
After X-Flight we went to Superman: Ultimate Escape. The wait was about 25 minutes. What a rush! I loved it, the speed the height. And although the foot chopper on Batman: Knight Flight hadn't worked for me, it did with Superman! My feet were flying at 70 miles per hour less than 6 inches above the ground. The brakes on the straight spike was a nice touch. I had a little bit of headbanging going back down the twisted spike, which surprised me. It wasn't painful or anything, it was just "there." 5/5
After Superman, we went and rode Mind Eraser. I don't know why everyone rips on boomerangs, I find them thrilling (even though they don't compete with other rides)! I like going through inversions backwards. The ride was smooth and I didn't experience any headbanging at all. 4/5
That was our last ride of the day, and we went back over to the Wildlife side to meet up with my parents and look at the animals before we left at around 7:30.
It was a great day filled with great rides. Every single one of them. And while I didn't get to ride all of the other coasters (actually I only rode the five that I mentioned, no other rides!), I still had a lot of fun.
COASTER RATINGS:
Batman: Knight Flight - 5/5
Villian - 4/5
X-Flight - 5/5
Superman: Ultimate Escape - 5/5
Mind Eraser - 4/5
MY TOP FIVE:
(1) X-Flight, Vekoma
(2) Batman: Knight Flight, B&M
(3) Lightning Racers, GCI
(4) Villian, CCI
(5) Superman: Ride of Steel, Intamin
PROS:
-Excellent rollercoasters! A great, varied selection of types of rides
-Smiling children...enjoying themselves
-A decent selection of flat rides (in my experiences)
-Great food
CONS:
-Everything was WAY overpriced. 21+ bucks for lunch, $2.59 for a bottle of water. Outrageous.
-While I didn't see any poor service, the ride ops for the most part looked tired and not excited to be working.
-Trash. No, it wasn't overflowing and covering up the entire park. There weren't cans and bottles and cups and trash all under the Villians' lift hill. But the trash cans just needed to be emptied.
-A lack of enforcing the policies (must have shirt on to ride certain rides, no smoking, no eating or drinking in line, etc).
IN THE END-
Overall my entire family had a great time. The combination of animals and rides was all good.
For the record, I had no problem with smoking in line (there wasn't more than one or two people in line smoking per ride). I do however, have a problem of sitting in the same seat as someone who didn't have a shirt on. They are either sweaty or wet from the water park. I don't like sitting in wet, sweaty seats.
FUTURE:
I'm going back on August 25 with my marching band. Hopefully I will have more success in riding all the rollercoasters at the park.
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A New World. A New Technology. One Last Hope for Salvation. Neon Genesis Evangelion
*** This post was edited by Coastercraver on 7/20/2001. ***