Just some of my thoughts to guide any advice you all may have for me:
I consider S:ROS and Volcano to be the big 2 attractions, and of those 2, I would proabably rather experience S:ROS. Although Volcano looks awesome, too.
I really want to see what a GCI woodie (a la Roar) is all about, but I also am intrigued by Hurler and ESPECIALLY by Grizzly. Wild One looks like it may be a dark horse favorite, too. I really love wooden coasters and the park with the best wood will really have a lot of weight in my final decision. Any advice here?
Batwing will have minimal new appeal or novelty to me since I've already ridden X-Flight. Same with FOF since I've ridden PKI's. I kinda want to see what an outdoor Spaghetti bowl coaster is like, though (JJ).
The SLC and Invertigo at SFA strongly suggest to me that I go to PKD. Not that I won't ride them, though.
MA's wild mouse bored me senseless. How does the Mack model hold up at PKD? Same with the Mack bobsled?
I am also intrigued by Anaconda, being the Arrow coaster lover that I am (sucker for pain).
My friend is bringing along 2 German friends who have never ridden a "real" coaster and who really want to. (Although I assume they don't realize some of the portable rides they may have ridden are REAL coasters by any enthusiast's standard). Which park would they appreciate more?
PKD is open till 10, while SF closes at 6:30!!
Lastly, and very important, I can get into SFA for free since I have already gotten my SFWoA pass processed (and my friend is looking to buy a SF pass, too, sometime over the summer), whereas I would have to pay to get into PKD.
Any guidance anyone could give me would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, and sorry for the length.
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I get the feeling there's a conspiracy over at King's Island to remove anything that has "K" or "C" in its initials.
If it was me, I'd chose SFA. (Not for the actual park, but for the coasters)
S:ROS is top steel (I strongly prefer to Volcano, personally), and the 2 woodies at SFA totally beat the pants off the woodies at PKD (again, in my opinion). But, that's just my 2 cents...
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- Peabody
This gets into lots of value judgements. One thing you didn't mention is that SFA is just outside the beltway while PKD is 1:15 down I-95. Timing of course to some extent depends on where you are in DC. If you get to SFA near opening you should have no trouble doing the whole park before it closes.
Each park has one excellent woodie. Roar and Grizzly are both first class. Grizzly is noted for having moods, though last spring when I went to PKD it was at its best. Hurler is not particularly good IMO. Rebel Yell is a bit better, and Scooby Doo is a little gem of a woodie. At SFA Wild One is nice and and excellent coaster for your beginner friends.
In the steel department, SROS is of course a great coaster. It deserves its number 8 ranking in the steel coaster poll. Volcano is also very good. I like Batwing which I consider to be prety good though not in the same class with SROS. If you haven't ridden and invertigo, you will find out that Two Face is much more intense than any boomerang despite the same basic track layout. Hopefully Jokers Jinx will have it's promised lap bars. Mind Eraser is, well, an SLC.
If you go to PKD wait the extra time for the front row on Volcano. It's worth it. Anaconda is one of Arrow's better efforts.
If you are at SFA on 4/20 look for me. I'll be the old guy with 2 or 3 teenage girls with him.
PS My woodie Rankings for the 2 parks:
1) Roar
2) Grizzly on a good day
3) Wild One
4) Scooby Doo
5) Rebel Yell
6) Grizzly on a bad day
7) Hurler
If you're going to in DC itself, save yourself the driving time on I-95 X( and go to SFA. Maybe I could evcen meet you guys there. Depends on my schedule.
SFA definately takes better care of its woddies as evidenced by the fact that each year for the past few years the trains have been rebuilt by PTC from the ground up. :)
Steel is a bir closer. Batwing and S:ROS are both top flight coasters(no pun intended), and the Invertigo is actually a great little coaster. Joker's Jinx will hoprfully have it's lap bars in place making for one heck of a ride. No if you have time to burn driving through traffic *beep* then head on down to PKD for the later closing, but otherwise, SFA is your best bet. :)
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Ready to spring into a new coaster season! :)
I think it depends. If you've riden X-Flight, then I'd acctually say head to PKD. You have Volcano, which is amazing (I agree with the front seat thing) What is basicly an indoor Riddler's Revenge, Hurler, and Rebel Yell, which are both quite nice rides. I acctually wasn't terribly impressed by hypersonic.. muchmuch to short.
Overall, they are closely matched.. depends on what you are looking for really.
*** I would got to SFA. There aren't quite as many coasters, but the quality of them is a little better. Grizzly is the best woodie at both parks, but PKD's other woodies aren't that great. Other than Grizzly, the only other ride I really like at PKD is FOF. But hopefully JJ at SFA will have lap bars soon (?) so it may be somewhat as good. But other than that, all the coasters at PKD are very short and not that great. SFA has Wild One, S:ROS, Roar, and a few others which gives it a better collection than PKD IMO. I've also heard that Typhoon SeaCoaster at SFA is pretty good but I have yet to ride it.
Zimm
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www.themeparkbrochures.com - Theme Park Brochures and Maps
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---- IGGY .
Everyone has their own opinion on where to go. Both parks are great parks in their own ways. It does depend on what you want to do.
You say you prefer woodies. SFA has 2 very good woodies. PKD has 4 woodies but not as good as SFA. So you have to choose over quality vs. quantity. Do you like being launched or are looking for airtime. SFA is the place for airtime with Superman. PKD's Volcano and FOF are very good launched coasters, however with Joker's Jinx possibly new lap bars, it may be better.
And finally since you have a seasons pass, I would choose SFA. I'll be hitting SFA on Sunday (that's 2 days away! Yah!) Regardless, have fun no matter what park you choose. I know I will this weekend.
*** This post was edited by BATWING FAN SFA on 4/12/2002. ***
Actually, I'm not going this weekend but the following weekend. (Probably Saturday the 20th). Thanks for the advice. From the replies so far, it looks like it's going to be SFA!
Thanks.
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I get the feeling there's a conspiracy over at King's Island to remove anything that has "K" or "C" in its initials.
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 4/12/2002. ***
The reason why Ricochet sucks is because it's a sucker for brakes. This is a pretty good coaster, but when will Paramount learn to lighten up on trims? I'd wouldn't be suprised to see brakes on the acsending of Hypersonic XL's hill becuase they thought the rapid change and airtime were too extreme.
Anaconda can be the biggest sore in the neck after the brakes, the only set of block brakes that I apreciate. Why? I wouldn't want to take those transitions at any higher speed. If Arrow has such a hard time with transitions, then why did the try to make a twisted ending if it's gonna' hurt like OUCHYMAMA!!!
Well if you want to see what it Joker's Jinx looks like then go take a picture, but if you ride it then that headache is goona' last longer ;) The lap bars, from what KAibueno told me, aren't there yet, so I would seriously regret riding it.
With woodies, PKD may have the most in the country, but quality doesn't match up with quanity here. Grizzly can give you the fiercest ride, but the odds that bear will get off its butt and do that are not in your favor. Grizzly is like the Beast, which can give dramatically different rides and leave everybody with their own reaction. The theme that Hurler was once known for is gone, but it still has pretty good airtime. Forget about Rebel Yell, this shouldn't be called a racer, and when it actually does races it still isn't that noticable after the turnaround and is quite slow. Since you've ridden the notorious King Island Racer, take my advice and ditch this one.
Volcano is a "unique" experience and how I felt about the ride, I will post later. With exception of XL and FoF, this wonderful park has only a fairly good coaster collection. Though not a coaster enthusiasts paradise, it is a great place to spend the day(that is if they actually open the coasters on time, not an hour late). For a coaster enthusiasts, Six Flags America is easily the winner, but this park is nowhere near as well layed out as Kings Dominion. Every coaster gives a good ride in this park(except for JJ's temporary bang fever. The antidote has not come yet but is expected.) The from the otherside of Wild One, the park seems like an open field with some steel monsters and not much else. Pass Wild One's line at your own risk, but be prepared for dramatic suprises(good and bad) at anytime. I haven't had a bad ride on anything here, the woodies are cared for well and run well. Wild One is one of those rides that you can't resist reriding but you don't know why. It's a ball for riding in a group(Superman:Ride of Steel and Wild One are pure winners). Although you've ridden X-Flight, I still suggest riding Batwing with the other two in the same row, flying together can double the ride's enjofment. Actually, there is one bad lamb in the heard, Mind Eraser, which is one of the bad SLCs.
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