Bad day at SFDL (8-29-05)

Well I was looking forward to spending the day with my signifigant other at SFDL. We packed up the car with the necessary things, and off we went. Paid the $7.00 for parking and then headed in the park. When we got to the entrance a large sign stated that "Due to lower ticket prices in effect, some attractions closed" So being a season pass holder I asked the clerk scanning my pass what exactly that meant, she said that only a couple of rides like grizzly run and slingshot wern't going to be running today. I thought "Okay no problem" Boy was I wrong

1) Barracuda Falls-Was not open, no signs to state this, just a gate around them, and no access or answers to why this was closed.
2) Boomerang Coast to Coaster- No reason as to why this wasn't running, but it wasn't.
3) Grizzly Run- She was right on this one, and I wasn't too depressed.
4) Poland Springs Plunge- Why this wasn't open really tee's me off, the Shipwreck falls was running, but the Plunge wasn't. Once again no signs to state why it was closed.

These were just the highlights, some flats were closed and the lines for those that were open were surprisingly heavy (especially for a monday).

Went on Viper and they were running two trains pretty smoothly.

Didn't even want to try Predator today, (had a headache already)

Mind Eraser was actually running one train all morning, which made for terrible lines, but they wised up and added the second train by 2pm. Of course they were still stacking terribly. (They were actually running the mist too!)

Superman was hit or miss, only one train, and that was if it was even running. A lot of downtime.

Tornado was fun mostly because it was my signifigant others first time on it, but i was really embarassed to take her to a park in which half of the "major attractions" were closed down. Do all major amusement parks run like this, or is this just par for the course at Six Flags. There was no mention of closing rides in the commercials, online or anywhere else, except for 10 feet in front of the entrance...all in all I left really dissapointed, but i managed to enjoy my day (mostly b/c of the company! :)

I'm sorry to hear about that experience. I''m going to visit the park on 9/10 for ACE Day, and just hope that more rides will be open,

I have one thing to say: TYPICAL SIX FLAGS!!! I am a season pass holder for Darion lake. They do this type of stuff all the time there. I hate when they only run 1 train all time for Superman when there can be a 1-2 hour wait. This is why Cedar Fair kicks Six Flags butt! *** Edited 8/30/2005 12:44:26 AM UTC by Coasterfreakfromeriepa***

You went on a weekday at the end of August. Staffing has now become a problem for most parks since school is back in session.

At least this park recognizes it and states it to the customers at the front gate by reducing admission prices.

VF's waterpark closes before Labor Day, they cut way back on the concession staffing and you'll see single train operation on everything but the Mouse coaster.

It happens everywhere--CF parks included. Welcome to the late season!

-'Playa

SFDL does it all summer long,even in July.

The Viper at SFDL is the only coaster in the park that always runs 2 trains, so focus on Viper as much as on SROS. When I go to Darien Lake, I go on Viper more than on Superman, because the queue is a walk-on, and because of how awesome this coaster is. Superman, I always do it early in the morning when the park opens. If there is only one train running on Superman, I just ride it in the morning, and ride the Viper and Boomerang (if Boomerang is open), and Mind Eraser(if 2 trains running or even operating) for the rest of the day. Predator, I will need Tylenol, since the Predator is so ****ing rough and painful. I had to take a 30 minute break just to relax from the Predator. Will the park PLEASE GET RID OF THE PREDATOR? Replace it with a B&M Stand-Up! Dorney Park replaced the old wooden Hercules with Hydra : The Revenge, a B&M Floorless coaster, so why can't Darien Lake get rid of the Predator? The Predator's roughness is worse than the roughness of the Minebuster at PCW. Somebody tell the Darien Lake Guest Services that the Predator is really painful and should be replaced with a smoother steel coaster.

The Predator is the roughfest coaster I have ever rode,and does hurt at times. It makes the Mean Streak seem very smooth.

Is Predator really that bad? I've never been to SFDL before, and 9/10 will be my first trip. Sounds like SFDL is no different from Geauga Lake when it was SFWoA.

Yes Predator IS that bad. It wasn't so bad last year so I don't know what happened.

-Tina

Predator isn't THAT bad... you got to give it SOME credit. It's much smoother after a good rain because the wood swells up & it just runs like it's new.
The only tip is to ride it in the front train... anything else may be a headache.

Problem is that it's a Dinn/Summers coaster creation, just like Mean Streak. Their reputation isn't all that great with smooth coasters.

What I don't get is the sign "Due to lower ticket prices in effect, some attractions closed"

I never heard that before. What lower ticket prices are they referring to? That's kind of a disappointment for the park to have something like that. What about those who did pay full price for the tickets at the grocery store when they pre-paid for 'em & were planning on a trip that day? It's more of a "screw you, we're trying to cut costs" kinda deal.

I was there in late August last year, and didn't see any major rides not functioning. I don't get it... the park seems to be going royally downhill this year from a number of different people who have visited it.

This was my sixth time here this summer, and by far the worst...to answer some of the questions, I really would enjoy predator if they had done preventative maintanance on it, so it wasn't so freakin rough, but I just can't justify riding it anymore. Superman is always planned as a ride first then do everything else coaster. With the larger than expected crowd though the lines everywhere else were pretty long.

The sign was a first for me too. Seeing as how my girlfriend paid $17.39 for a Wegmans ticket, and the gate prices were $16.99 yesterday, I gotta tell you I wasn't too happy.

Also who closes down the waterslides on a 85 degree day, and leaves something like "The Giant Wheel" open, it just does not make sense to me, maybe I'm wrong and it's some really great business move that I will never understand, but from the reactions around the park, I wasn't the only one left in the dark on this one.

I just have found this today on the website:
"As of 8/29 admission will be discounted, due to limited ride availability. BUY YOUR TICKETS ONLINE
WITH PRINT-N-GO

Buy your tickets online for just $25.99, a savings of $8 off the full price admission! And with Print-N-Go, you can print
them at home. No shipping, no wait,
go straight in the gate. Visit the park immediately. Buy your tickets online today!"

What a crock...

I COMPLETELY AGREE with this report.

I've gone to the park 3 times this year, NOT ONCE has there been all 5 coasters open at once.

I have not been to the park ONE DAY when all 5 coasters have been operating.

I haven't been to thte park ONE DAY since May 1999, 6 YEARS AGO when Superman opened where it has E-Stopped itself on the lift at least 3 times in one day.

Boomerang should be open! Instead of having 3 people run Shipwreck Falls they should collect some people and run Boomerang.

If Boomerang was closed the day you went, then I'm SURE it's been closed since the 18th when I went last.

Whenever you walk up to the park the big question is So.. which coaster is closed today? Sometimes you get a big friendly sign saying Mind Eraser is closed today, or Viper, or Predator, or Superman, or Boomerang. At last season only Viper and Boomerang were the only ones open that didn't close for over a month at a time.

This park is truely falling apart. Visually it looks nice and is somewhat clean, but the operations are terrible. They love to keep the line huge at Superman because they feel *special* it's sorta like a kid in RCT who tries to see how big he can get his line by having 300 second dispatches. The ride ops on Superman do their best but theres only 2 checking restraints which is ridiculous. The entire mindset is different at Cedar Fair parks, they don't want you to wait in line! They want those lines moving as quick as possible. Sure they get long but they also have 7-8 people checking restraints and 3 trains running even if it's a walkon.

Ok theres my rant. And it didn't even mention anything about SFDL getting a new ride! You should be proud of me. ;)

Luckily the Public Relations lady who I always call to get the lowdown on which rides are closed is MUCH more friendly than the lady from last year who I got into an argument about over ticket prices.

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Viper @ SFDL said:
Predator, I will need Tylenol, since the Predator is so ****ing rough and painful. I had to take a 30 minute break just to relax from the Predator. Will the park PLEASE GET RID OF THE PREDATOR? Replace it with a B&M Stand-Up! Dorney Park replaced the old wooden Hercules with Hydra : The Revenge, a B&M Floorless coaster, so why can't Darien Lake get rid of the Predator? The Predator's roughness is worse than the roughness of the Minebuster at PCW. Somebody tell the Darien Lake Guest Services that the Predator is really painful and should be replaced with a smoother steel coaster.

---

Why don't they just have Gravity Group simply retrack it? The design is actually pretty good.

They should just get regular NON TRAILERED PTCs or Millennium Flyers, get the coaster completely retracked, and people would ride it again.

BTW, how were the wait times the day you went?

Viper runs two trains more easily than the others probably because when Mind Eraser, Superman, or Predator run two, that's full capacity. Viper is designed to run three at the same time, so running two on that one is probably less difficult.

And yes....Predator is pretty bad.

Yes but Viper still manages to stack. Back 5 years ago when they would still run 3 trains, they used to dispatch a train everytime the one in front of it hit the MCBR.

Viper isn't something to complain about. I've never seen it run one train which is good. The line is short so it's not an issue.

Wait times were as follows:

Superman -- 25 Minutes, this was when the park first opened at 10:30am.
Viper -- 15 Minutes, with signifigant stacking mind you, not once did they get a train out without the next waiting.
Mind Eraser -- 55 minutes, this was while they were only running 1 train. When they put on the second train it was down to about 20 minutes, once again stacking every time. They did not once succeed in getting the train out before the previous hit the brake run.
Predator -- 10 minutes, with minimal traffic. Only one train in operation.

Another thing that is trivial, is that the lockers at Barracuda Bay weren't even opened, and there was no sign posted as to Barracuda Bay being closed until 3:00 pm, after what i assume was numerous questions, and complaints.

I'm going on Labor Day or the day before. I'm not expecting 2 trains on anycoaster but hopefully the lines will be short. You can only hope.

don't forget that in the upcoming weeks they will close off all rides past the viper [including poland springs plunge, mind eraser, grizzly, UFO, rodeo roundup, sleighride, kiddie rides in the back] and they re-locate the exit to the viper... as tradition since becoming a six flags park.

Oh, and predator will be closed too. *** Edited 8/31/2005 12:33:17 AM UTC by SFDL_Dude***