7/13 - 7/16: SFWoA and Cedar Point
Associated parks:
None
- More
- 1 of 2
- 2
Our first ride was Batman KF. We were about two rows from the back, with a walk-on ride. It was fun, but nothing special. Later in the day, we rode again, this time in the front. If you've never been in the front row on a floorless coaster, you're missing out. Riders were held inexplicably at the bottom of the ramp up to the station, instead of being allowed to actually wait on the ramp or in the station. 7/10
After that, we headed over to Superman: UE. While the launch was mildly amusing, the twist was just not fun, and in fact somewhat painful. It didn't help that the ride op slammed the restraint into my crotch, which resulted in much cursing. The straight side was slightly better, but again, it was not fun. I got more enjoyment from talking in line than actually riding this thing. Two rides, one near the front, one near the back. Walk on the first time, 10 minute wait the second. 4/10
X-Flight was next. We rode it twice, first time with a 30 minute wait, second was about 20. This is the best coaster in the park, and is yet another Vekoma that is not rough. In fact, I don't recall ever riding on a Vekoma that was any more rough than some B&M's I've been on. People seemed very unwilling to go to the left where the line splits between stations. I can understand - it's completely unmarked, and if you go to the left you will wait longer than if you go straight. Bad design. It was on this ride that we got our first glimpses of SFWoA's seemingly illogically, and sometimes frustrating, platform control. When we got to the top of the stairs, there were a lot of people standing around the first 3 or 4 rows. So, we decided to move past them to the fifth row. Upon doing so, we were reprimanded by a ride op, and he moved us and everyone else on the platform back onto the stairs. Then, people started moving up again, and so did we. Once again, we were yelled at by the ops and moved back down onto the stairs. Finally, it looked like we were going to be allowed to wait for a train when some people waiting for the front seat told us that the op said we could move onto the platform. This turned out to be false, as we were once again forced back onto the stairs. This pushed my "riding partner" over the edge, and he yelled at the ride op. There was total agreement among others in the station. Finally we got onto a train, but not without a snide comment between ops about him going "psycho". The actual ride is a 9/10, but add in the rest of our experience and it gets a 5.
After that bizarre encounter, we got in line for the Big Dipper. Fun ride, and no mysterious queue line and platform antics from the employees. One ride, walk-on. 8/10
The Villian was next. Having enjoyed every other CCI I had been on, this was quite a disappointment. I rode in the front, middle, and back, but it made little difference. I was expecting a slight letdown, considering all the good thing I had heard about it, but this was a merely mediocre coaster. All rides were walk-ons. 5/10
We then rode the Serial Thriller. I loved it, just like every other SLC I've been on. Claims of excessive roughness are groundless. Two rides, walk-on. 9/10
When I got in line for the Double Loop, I wasn't sure I would get off without a serious beating. My main Arrow experience, other than X, is the Corkscrew at Valleyfair!, which never fails to give a brutal ride. Luckily, this was a fairly smooth ride, with some nice Gs between the loops. Two rides, walk-on. It'd be nice if it were a little longer, though. 7/10
Mind Eraser was closed.
There was a significant amount of trash on the ground and quite a bit of vandalism on the walls. We left around 3PM. Overall, I'd give SFWoA 6/10.
Monday morning I left for Sandusky. I arrived at the Breakers Express around 3PM, and spent the majority of the day in my room enjoying the cable. I bought 2-day passes from the front desk. Left for Cedar Point around 8:30AM on Tuesday. I got in early and headed for Millennium Force. Waited about 10 minutes. This is a fantastic ride. Great airtime, constant speed, and very smooth. I rode again that night, and two more times the next day. Second and fourth rides were about 1.5 hour waits, third ride was also in the morning with a 15 minute wait. 10/10
Iron Dragon doesn't seem to get a lot of love around here, but it's a pretty fun ride, especially the second half. I rode it roughly 7 times, and never waited more than 10 minutes. I just wish that the whole ride was more like the second half. 6/10
One ride on Blue Streak. Waited about 45 minutes, and it wasn't much fun. 3/10
One ride on Cedar Creek Mine Ride. It was alright, and not too rough. Walk on. 6/10
I ended up on Disaster Transport, under protest. My bathroom has better themeing than this. Cedar Point spends tens of millions of dollars on each ride, so why does this ride suck so much? It looks like they ran down to the local industrial supply store, picked up some surplus items, and threw them randomly around the queue line. One entire portion of the line is handprints on a wall. At another point, I could see some sort of Halloweekends sign sitting in storage above us. The actual ride was no better. Christmas lights and spinning light globes that I can pick up for ten bucks at Target were the main elements. As for the coaster, it was short, boring, and a complete waste of time. I can't believe I wasted 40 minutes in line for this crapfest. 1/10
I rode Gemini about 10 times, walk ons every time. Nice airtime, and quite smooth. On all but two of the rides the trains were racing, although race isn't exactly the best word, since blue train seemed to win a little too often (by which I mean every time). Only problem is the uncomfortable helix. 9/10
Only one ride on Magnum. My three rides in 1999 were not impressive, and nothing has changed. Rough, painful, and devoid of anything I would call fun, I'm glad I didn't make the mistake of getting in line a second time. Half hour wait. 3/10
Mantis was also quite rough. The only other stand-up I've been on is Riddler's Revenge at SFMM, and it was much more fun, and smooth, than Mantis. People seemed to have great difficulty following instructions on this ride. The ops would say not to bounce, and half the train would bounce. They'd say not to fasten your own seatbelt, and everyone would. Is it really that hard to listen? One ride, 40 minute wait. 6/10
Mean Streak was another rough ride, but that didn't bother me at all. The braking didn't seem as bad as when I rode in 1999, but it was still quite heavy. Walk-on ride, and despite the braking, it is a fun ride. 7/10
Rode Raptor twice, both times with a Freeway stamp. This is the best inverted coaster I've ever been on. Nice positive Gs, and it never lets up. Extremely long lines in the morning due to people going for the first thing they see, instead of waiting until later and waiting quite a bit less. 10/10
Three rides on Dragster. Both days it was closed in the morning, but was up and running by the afternoon. When I learned that the new ride was just a launch and a hill, I was somewhat disappointed, but not anymore. This is, without question, the best launch I've ever experienced. The airtime on the top of the hill is fantastic, and it's quite fun spinning straight down from 420 feet. First ride was a one hour wait. On the second day, I was about to enter the queue when a train only made it about halfway up the tower and they closed the line. Waited about 15 minutes for things to be fixed, and then waited for another 1.5 hours. I got in the queue for my third and final ride at 10:15PM and was out the exit in one hour. People seemed willing to sit by the fence in front of the ride for a very long time, despite announcements that the ride will not open for many hours. If you go, I suggest waiting until the ride actually opens. Much better to wait one hour than five. 10/10
One ride on Wicked Twister with a 1.5 hour wait. I wasn't expecting much after Superman at WoA, and was not surprised by the (lack of) quality of the ride. Rough, fairly forceless, and just not fun. 3/10
Nothing was down for an entire day, but Millennium Force stopped on the lift right after I got off on Wednesday morning and appeared to be down/running empty trains for quite some time, but it did open later in the day. Magnum also appeared to be stopped on the lift at one point, and may have been briefly closed, but it too re-opened. Raptor was closed for a while Tuesday due to inclement weather, which seemed to consist entirely of light wind. Dragster, as mentioned earlier, was also down at the beginning of each day.
The park was very clean, and the ride operation of very fast. As my friend put it, "Six Flags should come here and find out how to run a park". 9/10
------------------
Track Record (probably incomplete)
*** This post was edited by punishinglemur 7/17/2003 11:04:51 PM ***
punishinglemur said:
Then, people started moving up again, and so did we. Once again, we were yelled at by the ops and moved back down onto the stairs. Finally, it looked like we were going to be allowed to wait for a train when some people waiting for the front seat told us that the op said we could move onto the platform. This turned out to be false, as we were once again forced back onto the stairs.
No Offense, but why didn't you just wait for the ride attendent to verbally permit you to come up further on the platform? He might have been cleaning puke on the platform, and didn't want anyone else up until it was clean, or something like that.
------------------
Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Ride-Ops Crew 2002-2003(Find Me, Win a prize!)
------------------
Track Record (probably incomplete)
------------------
Ride the Conneaut Lake Blue Streak!
------------------
Top Thrill Dragster -- The most intense, unbelievable, and spectacular fifteen seconds on any coaster, anywhere, ever.
------------------
Bob M.
Disaster Transport is a bummer. When I went, there was also this really heavy, pervasive body odor dense in the queue. I was about to run for the closest door and if I hadn't flown in from Maryland to visit CP, I would have done so. Poor air ventilation/circulation. And... you ahd lights?? My ride was completely black. July 2000.
Maybe SWoA can demonstrate for SFA how to maintain Vekomas properly.
------------------
"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." e.e.cummings
punishinglemur said:
Our first ride was Batman KF. We were about two rows from the back, with a walk-on ride. It was fun, but nothing special. Later in the day, we rode again, this time in the front. If you've never been in the front row on a floorless coaster, you're missing out. Riders were held inexplicably at the bottom of the ramp up to the station, instead of being allowed to actually wait on the ramp or in the station.
Thank QBot for that. The place where the main line is held, is the merge point for QBot holders. The attendant there will let a number of "regular line" people in, then hold the line in case any QBot patrons come along. Then they let more regular line in. Repeat.
The good thing is it actually means the wait is shorter than it appears. The queue fills up, it looks long, people avoid the ride, and then I'm on in 30 minutes... Not great for the park, but ok for me.
------------------
--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"Another visitor. Stay a while. Stay FOREVER!"
("SFWOA metal detectors thats gotta tell you the kind of people they get at that park, right off the prison bus onto the Innercity SFWOA bus trip.")
You know that was a pretty ignorant comment that you made. It is kind of sad that we have some coaster fans out here that make comments such as yours. Not all of the trouble comes from inner city kids or adults trouble comes from all walks of life.
A troublemaker can be from the "burbs" or from the inner city so please don't make assumptions like that because you might affend some folks. Thanks.
------------------
Your Park only has 1 good coaster! That's too bad!
*** This post was edited by darienlakefan 7/21/2003 2:19:25 PM ***
In case some of you don't realize: all metal objects set off a "metal" detector, which doedent mean its a weapon, it could probably be a can or some change or even a button depeding on the sensitivity of the detectors.
"Pointless" playing of the national anthem....you a communist?
I won't comment on your ideas of any rides, but i am convinced you are on some sort of depressant, so go take a prozac and have some fun.
Oh, and don't worry - I don't think you're a communist. ;)
------------------
--
Harry Baer IV
"Do you think it was a bear?"
"A bear? Bears are sweet! Besides, you ever seen a bear with 40 foot feet?"
------------------
Don't Fight It, Ride It, RAGING BULL!!!!!!- Six Flags Great America
eMCeR2cf said:
Pushinglemur, you must be on heroin, because you sound like a sad person. The point of an amusement park is to have fun, and you failed at that.
What in the hell are you talking about? I had a lot of fun - look at how many rides I gave good reviews. Geez, just because I didn't like a few things doesn't mean I'm some crack-addled junkie who derives no fun from amusement parks.
In case some of you don't realize: all metal objects set off a "metal" detector, which doedent mean its a weapon, it could probably be a can or some change or even a button depeding on the sensitivity of the detectors.
Yes, Einstein, metal objects do set off metal detectors. But my complaint was that when people set them off, the staff almost always did NOTHING to determine the cause. All they're good for is delaying my entry into the park. Imagine if airport security operated like this - you could carry a gun, set off the detector, and they'd just let you through. After all, it's probably not a gun.
"Pointless" playing of the national anthem....you a communist?
No.
I won't comment on your ideas of any rides, but i am convinced you are on some sort of depressant, so go take a prozac and have some fun.
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that my opinions of the rides had to conform to your standars, O Great One.
------------------
Track Record (probably incomplete)
punishinglemur said:
This pushed my "riding partner" over the edge, and he yelled at the ride op.Though the setup does sound confusing, there is no need to yell at the op. And people wonder why employee morale is down.
------------------
2002/2003
KWTM
i kept running to my car.
Fxnib said:
SFWOA metal detectors thats gotta tell you the kind of people they get at that park, right off the prison bus onto the Innercity SFWOA bus trip.------------------
Ride the Conneaut Lake Blue Streak!
Kennywood has them, PKI has them, I think that all Six Flags parks have them. I am really surprised that after 9/11, all parks do not have them. Standing in a queue line with hundreds, if not thousands of people around you, what better place for a terrorist to attack? I do not mind the minor inconvenience of going through metal detectors when entering a park and am surprised that CP has not installed them yet.
------------------
Keep your Arms Down, Head back, and Hold On!
There is no such thing as a pointless playing of the National Anthem. Period.
During the National Anthem, with your hat off and hand on your heart, you should stand tall and do one of two things. Either you sing along to show how proud you are to be an American or you silently reflect on how lucky you are to live in a country like ours.
Respect the Flag.
- More
- 1 of 2
- 2
You must be logged in to post
