5/31 SFA Superman Reopens

They have flooded the flume a couple of times since May 1st while I was there. However, I have only been able to spot four boats on the course at any given time.

I made it to SFA today and finally got a chance to ride S:ROS. Here are my thoughts:

I was the first ride of the day in the front row of the blue train on the left side. They were having problems with the red train in the morning and had to pull it off the transfer track. I have been some what skeptical in recent weeks if I would fit into the restraints. I did try the test seat and found it was more spacious then the seats on the ride itself. I never tried to get my shins to touch the blue pads and kept my legs in a upright position. I had plenty of room on both sides of the lap bar and about an 1" to 1 1/2" of slack left in the seat belt. My first trip was in the front row, I didn't notice a difference in the ride except on the third hill. I still received quite a bit of airtime but I definetly didn't come out of my seat as far. Which is fine with me. Airtime is good, falling out of train is bad. My second ride was in the third row left side. I hadn't rode this far back in a while so I couldn't tell if there was a big difference in airtime on the second hill or not. But I suspect the further back you are, the less the airtime and the more you felt you the restraints. To me S:ROS is still a excellent coaster.

As I stood in the airgates I watched people as they got off the train and noticed on several individuals they had marks (indentations) on the sides of their legs where the side bars came down and touched the sides of their legs tightly.

The park has made some other improvements to the station. First, you will notice they have removed the last railing closest to the airgates. Unfortunately, they left the part that creates the queue for the front row and it quickly becomes a choke point. At this point, they also seem to have anywhere from two to four attendants on the platform helping people load the train, one ride op and one attendant out front answering questions. Meaning, this ride is now the most staffed ride in the park. They also have started holding people outside the station entrance like they do on Batwing to help with crowd control and flow. So if it looks like this ride has a long line, it might pay to see if they are holding people outside the station before resigning yourself to a long wait. All-in-all, the new restraints might added another minute to the overall loading process.

They were going to put the red train on as I was leaving. I've never seen this at any park and wanted to see it today but they were having problems with the transfer track.

As for the rest of my day:

Wild One is giving great air on a freshly greased track. The black train on Roar is giving a great ride on a freshly greased track as well. Didn't ride JJ but I didn't see a long wait for it all day and it was running two trains. Batwing was running two trains, one side of station. Iron Eagle was running and TSC never opened while I was there. Mind Eraser, well, I didn't ride it.

I also took my first ride ever on Two Face. Thought the coaster shook you around to much and acted exactly like a Vekoma SLC. My first ride was also in the second to back row (the back row was closed off, some guy asked me why it was closed off and I said I'm not sure, but when they close it off I usually don't ask to many questions as to why and I don't volunteer to be the one to test it out. Everyone laughed). It's now official, while I might ride a Vekoma Boomerang with others I don't know if I will do it by myself. They are pretty violent. I walked off Two Face slightly disoriented.

The water park has received some upgrading this year. First, on Surfside Pizza, they have removed the whole front of the restaurant, doors, windows, etc... and made it a walk up. In fact, with the exception of the Boardwalk Fries stand in the water park, every walk up food stand at SFA no longer has windows. They all are fully open. A nice change. The chaise lounger chairs or no longer the plastic ones like you would find at Wal-Mart, but the nice ones with the rubber belts around them. Other than that, lots of signs identifying everything have been added.

That about covers it for me. I had a great time. I also met CPismyhome from Coasterbuzz as well. Nice guy, I had a great time riding with him.

*** Edited 6/6/2004 10:04:58 PM UTC by coasterguts***

I agree with on the Fastb Lane pass.They shouldn't allow those Fast Pase holders to chose where they want to sit.Because there is only 1 row asigned to the Fast Pass.The same thing happen one time that my buddies went to SFA.My buddie & I were so pissed too after waiting in the SROS line and then they let a whole bunch of Fast Pass Holders board the whole train.I say get ride of the Fast Lane because it dosen't work. I really think that SFA do need a new ride for 2005 season.I hope that SFA get a B&M type coaster.Because it has been a very long time since SFA got a new coaster.The last new coaster was Batwing in 2001 season.

Man I can't believe they made some changes to S:ROS's queue area,I know they took the rails out that were closest to the station wall last year but why would they go & remove the last set of rails just before the gates?

It seems like it's gonna be a helluva long wait with that queue set up by the time I get there next week,I'm glad to hear that IE is finally up & running for the season as well.

It's actually designed to help the flow of the queue. By removing that last set of rails the line for each gate is actually to build deeper and you don't have people waiting for the back row blocking everyone else from getting in line at other gates. All-in-all the wait may be the same or slightly less. I'm sure they did it to improve capacity.

What they really need is a seperate back seat line for that thing much like the one they've got for the front row.

By changing the queue slightly this should indeed help relieve the bottle necking in that last switchback area,but then again the same thing can be just as easily accomplished if they started assigning seats on the ride.

Would you want to be assigned a seat on any ride?