Associated parks:
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This had to be the best trip I’ve ever taken to an amusement park. The weather was great, the park itself was awesome and I got to share the experience with all of my friends. One of the best parts of going to SFGAdv is that we rode all 12 coasters. It was quite a memorable experience.
When we went on our senior trip in April, we hit SFGAdv. on our way home. It was opening day when we went. If any of you went to opening day at Gadv., you know it was miserable. It was rainy and half of the rides were closed. Also, the park closed early. When we got to the park it was 2:00, we were told it closed at 5:00. Great. We paid $50 to spend three hours at a SF park that had only half of its rides open. Not good. Well on the way out we got free tickets to come back to the park. The only problem was we had to use them before May 31st. Well, we never had time since it was baseball season. Sectionals had just started so we couldn’t go.
We decided to take two days off of school instead (one of which was senior skip day). So at 5:00 a.m. on the 27th, we got in my van and headed for Gadv. It took 4 1/2 hours to get to the park. I had my friends Michelle, Tabitha, Alicia, Shawn, Melissa, my mom and myself in the car. The weather was great. When we got into the park it was sunny and warm. There were a lot of students at the park but other than that, the parking lot was empty. My mom dropped us off and headed to our hotel. We walked right in with our passes.
Security was quick and friendly. Six Flags seems to be doing great this year with friendliness. I was really impressed. Well we were a little too late. It was about 10:05 and every single person who was there headed to Superman. We figured this was a great opportunity to get to some popular coasters.
The Chiller was the first coaster we went to. I was a little disappointed that the Batman side was not yet up and running. Nonetheless, I was still happy that robin was ready to go and the ride was a WALK ON. Quite impressive. By the time we got to the ride, about 5 squirrels had run in front of us. They were EVERYWHERE. It gave the park a nice “natural” feeling I guess. Anyway, as we were walking up the queue my heart began to race. If any of you recognize my name you know that I have been absolutely paranoid for the past month. When we went to GAdv. on our Senior Trip, I was too big to ride the Chiller. I was reluctant to give it another try but I did anyway. I took your guys advice and took the back left seat of a car. The air-gates opened, I hopped into the seat and…ClickI was in NO PROBLEM. Last time my legs were up on the orange part of the restraint. That must have been why I didn’t get in on opening day. I wish I had known that before so I didn’t get myself so stressed out! Anyway, I was overwhelmed with excitement because I didn’t think I was getting in. Enough of my rambling, here’s the review:
The Chiller:
The launch was a little weaker than I remember. This was however, the first time I had ridden the ride with lap bars. It is a COMPLETELY different experience. Definitely worth it. The cobra roll was amazing. The spiral was a little rough but still fun. My friends LOVED it. Great ride and great beginning of the day. I can’t wait until the Batman side starts going again.
9/10
Next we headed to Nitro. They hadn’t opened the ride yet so we decided to take a spin on Skull Mountain. Are the squirrels following us?! We didn’t make it to the ride without a couple of them running around is again. Weird.
Skull Mountain:
I really like this indoor coaster. Maybe it’s because my home park is The Great Escape. We have the Nightmare. The capacity on that thing is awful and there’s too much light in the building. Skull Mountain was a walk-on. I didn’t think I would get into this ride but it was fine. Plenty of room with comfortable restraints. I enjoy the back seat on this ride. My friends hated this coaster.
4/10
We decided to check out Nitro and we were pleased to see it was open. I wanted to try out the test seat just in case. There was not problem with room and once again it was a big relief. Here’s a tip. Always go to a park expecting the worst. It makes for an awesome time.
Nitro:
What can I say, GAdv. could not have done better. My friends and I decided to wait for the front seat. I had never gotten the front seat so I was stoked! The line was non-existent. We got into the ever-so comfortable trains and headed up the lift hill. What a thrill! The ride is aging VERY well. The first drop was great, the second drop was great, the massive camelbacks were great, the hammerhead was great, the s-curve and helix were great and the bunny hops at the end were great. Front seat, great ride. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. My friends thought this ride was the best and said it was their favorite ride of the day.
9/10
Batman: The Ride
We next headed for Batman. I still don’t like the themeing on this ride. The smashed cop car just doesn’t do it for me. I didn’t try out the test seat. I was pretty confident I would be okay and I was. I wanted to ride in the front seat because I never had on this coaster before. My friends didn’t want to wait. Instead we went to the back seat. BAD idea. I of coarse loved it. These are what my friends thought:
Alicia: “That hurt my neck”
Shawn: “Yeah there was a lot of head banging”
Michelle: “It made me nauseas.”
Melissa: “Yeah, where’s my Tylenol. It gave me a massive headache.”
Tabitha: “I don’t remember anything after the first loop. I blacked out. I don’t want to go on that again.”
WOW! I never thought I would hear this about a beemer. I guess Batman needs a little work. Well, I found it enjoyable but the overwhelming negative responses from my friends lowered my rating.
6/10
Next we decided to get some lunch. I spent $5 on little corn dogs. The food prices are, and always have been outrageous. *sigh* Everyone felt better after we had a bite to eat. I decided it was time to check out erUPtion. I wanted to ride it. They were charging $10 for a ride! I wanted to see it in action first though. Nobody was riding so we decided to take a quick spin on Mach1.
I miss Dino Island! It was so cool and the 3-D effect is awesome. I hated Mach1. It was bumpy and un-enjoyable. I’m not going to talk about it much more because it makes me mad.
Time for, yep, you guessed it, Superman: Ultimate Flight! The line wasn’t coming out into the midway so we decided that was a good sign. We walked through the poorly themed bubble and into the queue. The line was almost reaching the bubble. We guessed it would be at least an hour. Oh, well. It was a beemer and it was a flying coaster. We HAD to wait. I had made it perfectly clear to my friends at that point that “beemers” are the good coasters. Anyway, we hadn’t been in line 2 minutes when it broke down. Great. I heard that Superman has been having a lot of downtime lately, which is very “un-beemer” like. Well we decided to wait. The ride was up and running again within 5 minutes. Here’s where it all goes wrong. A large amount of people left the queue while the ride was broken down. We actually made more progress through the queue while the ride was broken. Guess what happened when the ride was fixed? That’s right, everyone who LEFT the queue had at least one person in their party who decided to stay and wait. So when the ride started again, a good 30 people cut us. Let me tell you I thought there was going to be a riot. People were not happy. GAdv. really needs to do something about this. I know there is a chair in the Medusa queue for staff to keep things in order, but they need one on Superman too. It was horrible. Another thing, 20% of the people in the queue were chain smokers! I couldn’t breathe. The rules at GAdv. need to be enforced and that can’t be done if there is not enough staff available. I would be perfectly fine with the park closing down a few more flat rides so there would be more staff to watch park guest. Anyway, enough of my complaining. We all got over it eventually and completely forgot about it when we rode…
Superman: Ultimate Flight:
Even thought the bubble was poorly themed, the queue was awesome! It was cool to read about all of the characters in Superman. I did notice the poor drainage on throughout the queue though. Water was almost at the level of the concrete. Good thing it was 80 and sunny! Rain wouldn’t have helped that situation. Anyway, our estimation was right. We arrived in the Superman queue after an hour. It didn’t even seem that long because it was so exciting to watch the ride every time it went through. I kept telling my friends how intense I heard the pretzel loop was (they had no idea what I was talking about). Half of us grabbed the second seat from the back and the other half grabbed the fourth row. One of the most exciting things I this ride is watching people go into the flying position. AMAZING! We were next. We got into the trains and I was amazed at how comfortable they were! The were HUGE! They check us and all of a sudden we hear “dispatch.” The floor drops and the seats tilt. It was quite a thrill. I couldn’t wait to actually go through the ride! I felt kind of uncomfortable in the seats. I felt like I was going to fall out or break through. We crested the lift hill and took a dive to the right. It was amazing. The bottom of the first drop had some nice g’s (this is where I felt the most un-safe in my restraints). Then we did it, the infamous pretzel! Words cannot describe the feeling. At first when you’re going through you’re thinking “oh this isn’t so bad,” but it keeps getting more and more intense. The pressure was amazing! The rest of the ride is a bunch of fun turns. I didn’t get the feeling I had expected from the turns so I was a little disappointed. The twist was better than I had anticipated though. What a great element! Overall Superman was great. The restraints scared me but isn’t that a good coaster? One that SCARES you?
9/10
It was time for GASM. My friend Alicia had just got into a serious car accident the day before. We think she got whiplash. Because of this, my friends Michelle, Shawn and I took a spin on GASM while Melissa, Tab, and Alicia took a break.
Great American Scream Machine:
I don’t remember this ride being so, well, BAD. Right after we dispatched from the station it was bumpy. We hadn’t even gotten to the lift hill yet when my friends said “Yeah this is definitely not a good ride for Alicia. It reminded them of the Stemin’ Demon roller coaster at my home park the Great Escape. It was just a lot longer and taller. The bottom of the first drop provided some nice head banging as did the entrance to all three vertical loops. The pain received before entering the MCBR was even worse than before and the bowtie (batwing, boomerang, whatever I don’t know what Arrow calls theirs) was uncomfortable. The Corkscrews were the only smooth part of this ride (something my friend’s did realize). Boo GASM. Bad performance. This isn’t the wussy head-banging that enthusiasts are criticized for complaining about. This was the true, GP hated, kind of ride. Maybe it was just having a bad day? I don’t know. My friend Shawn and I agreed though that, “They don’t make them like they used to!”
5/10
After that I was in desperate need of a beemer! We made the walk to Medusa. We took a quick spin on the log flume first though. Nice ride. Kind of bumpy. (A LOT better than the log flume at the GE). The sleeping ride attendants made me a little nervous though. My boat didn’t get wet, but some kids sprayed the one the other half of our group was in. Ah! Don’t we all love interactive rides. J Now on toViper. I was under the impression that Viper and Rolling Thunder weren’t running that day. I was wrong. We saw RT running but decided to skip it. I didn’t see Viper running but the queue was open and people were walking into it. Sure enough, the ride was open. After walking a good MILE through the queue (no exaggeration, Viper’s queue is extremely long) we met the rather long line. Yes, I know, you must think I’m lying. There was actually a line for Viper. This was mainly because they were only running one train.
Viper:
I really do like the trains on this coaster. The restraints are brutal but they look nice. I went on Viper back in 2000. I remember it being rough and expected the worst. This is when I started to explain to my friends “B&M good, Togo bad!” Either way they all wanted to ride it because it “looked cool!” Great. All of my friends scattered around when we got into the station. My friend Shawn and I took the back (mainly because Viper DOES have a great drop.) I warned them! I told them it would be bad! Does anyone ever believe me!? NO! Because I was expecting the worst I didn’t mind the ride. I actually LIKED it! The first drop was okay, not as good as I remember. Every time we changed direction I felt like I was in a massive earthquake. Head banging was bad but not the worst. The sheer vibrations of the cars were overwhelming. I thought it was great. The inversions on this ride are by far the best part of it (especially the second one). That turn into the brake run is too rough. I could see how warped the track was. What a fun time. I liked it! Shawn and I repeated several times throughout the rest of that day “Togo Rules!” It was funny to us.
5/10
Time for a good ride! We hadn’t had one of those in a while!
Medusa:
I could ride this thing all day long! I LOVE it. This is definitely the first time I have ever encountered a lone for Medusa though. It was out of the queue! Anyway, it was hard to explain the floorless concept to some of my friends but it was perfectly clear when they saw it. I had never ridden the front seat of a floorless so I was really looking forward to doing that. Before I boarded the train I took off my sandals. Then we were dispatched. Even in the front the floorless affect doesn’t do it for me. It’s better than any other seat bur still I don’t find anything special with it. My friends did like it though. They said they felt like their feet were going to hit the track. Smooth ride with a few vibrations (which make it that much better). EVERY element blew me away. Congrats to GAdv. This one’s a keeper!
9/10
We went back over to Movietown to catch Spin Miester and get another run on the Chiller. Both great rides, both walk-ons. Then I was pleased to see Stuntman’s freefall up and running. What a great ride. My friends all loved. After that we headed toward Ski! Nice show but not my cup of tea. Wow the water at GAdv. is NOT clean. It was really brown, but that’s okay. After the show we headed toward...
Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure Train:
I thought it was closed but once again, I was wrong. Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure Train:There wasn’t a line for this masterpiece so we walked right on. The last 8 or so rows were blocked off. Hmmmm. I guess they’re too intense. This coaster is AWESOME! All junior coasters should be like this! It’s smooth and enjoyable. I was able to grab a couple of trees along the way. What a fun ride. We got a re-ride and all headed farther to the back. The back’s a lot better. That’s probably why they blocked off the back rows. It probably gets whipped over the first hill too fast.
6/10
A couple of us took a spin on Fantasy Fling while the rest went on Buccaneer. Fantasy Fling is a nice little flat ride. My friends were let down by Buccaneer. They said it didn’t go as high as the Pirate Ship at the Great Escape. Anyway, after that we headed back over to Frontier land to catch the Mine Train.
Runaway Train:
This ride has the WORST restraints. The two kiddy coasters are more comfortable than this thing. My friend Shawn was in intense pain and I had to sit Indian-style with my legs under the seat. (I don’t think the girls had a problem). The ride was uncomfortable but it’s a nice little mine train. It’s a little violent. Especially that last bunny hop! Ouch! The placement of the ride brings up it’s rating though. Going over the lake at the end is nice.
4/10
After the ride on Runaway Train we headed back over to Movie town (Too bad the Sky Ride wasn’t running yet!). Everyone wanted another ride on Nitro, so we waited in line for about 20 minutes. We decided to wait for the back seat this time. Line jumping was a problem on this ride as well. In my opinion, Nitro in the back seat is the best. I like the air you get being pulled OVER the hill rather than getting pushed up it. Great ride! I had NEVER seen the little coaster in Looney Toons Seaport. I knew it was there, but I had never bothered to find it before. Well my curiosity took over so my friends and I decided to walk over the bridge and check it out.
There were no people what-so-ever in Looney Toons Seaport. It was a ghost town. I think we intimidated the man working on the little coaster. We asked if we could all ride and he just nervously nodded.
Little Coaster:
There were six of us and six cars on the train. The restraints were meant for two kids. The bar was supposed to go down the middle and a child was supposed to sit on each side of it. Well we rode it a little different. Well I don’t know about my friends, but I put the bar between my legs and rode the coaster like S:ROS (SFNE). Yeah, it was pathetic, but it was another coaster added to the count. Let me just say that this has to be the most violent kiddie coaster I’ve ever ridden. The lift hill took a whopping 3 seconds to get up. After that we took a sharp right turn and begun our vicious journey. The Looney Toon music playing in the background didn’t help much. Anyway, I thought I was going to hit my head about three times and I’m surprised I don’t still have whiplash. Togo has nothing on this beast! We got two circuits on it. My friends and I were convinced that was because the station brakes weren’t strong enough to stop us. Good luck little children!
2/10
Wow, I was drained after that one! It was right then that I realized it. We only had one coaster to go and we would have all twelve. I hadn’t even thought about it until that moment! It was getting dark. We didn’t have much time. My friends kept saying, “We have to ride the wooden one. We didn’t ride the wooden one!” I translated this in my mind and knew that the remaining coaster was Rolling Thunder.I guess it was our lucky day. The sky ride was opened. Thank God. I was really getting sick of walking back and forth. Man that thing jets! If anyone has ever ridden the gondola at the Great Escape you’ll know what I mean. It’s also nice to ride a gondola that takes you somewhere! Once again referring to the Great Escape gondola. During the sky ride I looked over toward superman and didn’t see anyone in line. Hmmm. That cant be right. Anyway, we got off and headed toward…
Rolling Thunder (aka: Rotting Lumber)
This ride was ok. That’s it. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t terrific. I thought that although it was slow, it wasn’t THAT bad for such an old ride. I wish they would race both sides at some point. Isn’t that the whole idea of the ride? I love the head chopper right at the end before the final turn.
5/10
We had a little time left before the park closed so I told my friends that I wanted to get a few more rides on Superman. We split up when we got to the boardwalk. Tab, Alicia and Melissa headed to GASM and Shawn, Michelle and I hit up Superman. Now everyone was going to have all 12 coasters from GAdv. on their coaster count! Superman was a walk on. We didn’t even have to leave the station. We got a good 10 rides on it before it closed for the night. I am still in awe of that pretzel loop! All the rides were good except for the time we were next to this kid telling us all about getting high and having sex. I was like “Wow buddy I’m just not interested.” I think he was high on the ride.
Anyway… This trip to GAdv. was AMAZING! I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Everything worked out better than I had expected. The only problem was when we went to the drive through safari the next day. The baboon park wasn’t open. That was disappointing but we saw a kangaroo fight and a giraffe made out with our car! Oh, and the lions were doing very DIRRTY things.
I was VERY impressed by SFGAdv. It’s an awesome park. I hope everyone can get to it this year and give it a try. It’s worth it!
*** This post was edited by rentzy17 8/12/2003 6:21:01 PM ***
http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=33274
http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=33262
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Mike T.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbsite/
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