California 3 Parks 2/27-3/5/19

So, after finding r.t. air on Delta from Detroit to LAX for $206, I finally decided to take my first trip to California to use the season passes I already have for 6 Flags and Cedar Fair and to visit a friend in San Francisco.

On Wednesday, I went to Magic Mountain. I've been wanting to go to this park ever since they announced X. Unfortunately, actually a blessing, X2 was down as was Superman. Anyways, My first ride was Tatsu. What an awesome ride. The lift hill cresting at 170 feet is fantastic. Loved this ride. Went on to ride Ninja and Goldrusher which were ok. The Riddler's Revenge was awesome. Best stand-up, by far, and just a really fun and intense ride. Batman was next. Love these clones. Next up was another highly anticipated ride on Twisted Colossus. Unfortunately, with the light crowd, they were only running 2 trains which meant very rare instances of dueling. Besides only running 2 trains being an issue, too many people were bringing too much crap that needed to go in bins. I think I might have seen 2 instances of true dueling during the 3 days I was there. They need to force people to use lockers for this coaster. Anyways, I opted for the back seat. It was not my favorite ride on an RMC. Just found it to be a little awkwardly jerky. Rode again in row 7 and absolutely loved it. Rode Scream next and found it to be one of my top 2 floorless coasters, tied with Bizarro. Next up was Goliath. Found it to be better than I expected, but still ok. It's got to be one of the smoothest rides I've ever been on. The definite highlight is the helix which did make me gray out a bit. Next up was Full Throttle. For what it is, I really like this ride. It's not the longest but is really fun. Revolution was next. Really long ride but just ok. Viper was last in the list to be ridden. I was expecting awful, but pleasantly surprised. Very intense. Definitely the best big Arrow looper I've been on. Just a bit of advice, since this park is extremely hilly, I suggest walking the loop in a clockwise direction. Climbing the hill in the back of the park would be pretty rough. My legs were extremely sore by the end of the day.

Day 2 was at Knott's Berry Farm. Really a nice park...and flat. Rode Ghostrider several times through the day and LOVED it. Silver Bullet was awesome. The drop is a little weak, but the rest of the ride is fantastic. Hangtime,Montezuma's Revenge and Xcelerator were a lot of fun. Surf Rider is the most boring wild mouse ever. Pony Express and Sierra Sidewinder were decent for family coasters. Crowd was light, so, wait times were non-existent except for Ghostrider.

Day 3 was back at SFMM for a few hours before driving to San Francisco. Fortunately, X2 was running...Yay!....then I rode it...Boo! I rode the inside seat of the back row. The first 90% was insane but fun...then, right near the end, the seat bounced so much that is smacked my calves so hard and so many times in a row that it felt like someone was machine gun punching my calves. Totally ruined the experience. Did NOT enjoy X2. After I got off, one of the ops said it needs to be ridden with legs crossed. Anyways, the line was too long to try again since they are only running one train for awhile. The rest of my time there was great.

Sunday was Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This was a surprisingly nice park. Unfortunately, while they did keep the rides running, it rained most of the time we were there. Of course, we went for The Joker first. Considering that my buddy hasn't been on a coaster since he screamed bloody murder on a caterpillar when he was a kid, The Joker was a great RMC to ride for his first coaster. I really like this ride. It's very comfortable, fun and re-rideable. We were on Superman within 5 minutes of riding The Joker which was a tad soon for a newbie. I love these, especially since it has no shoulder harnesses. After that, I rode Boomerang and found it to be ok. Then I rode Medusa. What a fantastic floorless coaster. Best of the 6 or so that I've ridden. The sea serpent element is pretty cool. After that, my friend and I rode The Joker, again. At this point, they were only loading every other seat due to the higher speeds caused by the rain. Such a fun ride. I got another ride on Superman and then we left because we got tired of the rain and because I was so bummed that Kong, the SLC wasn't running...lol.

On Monday, I hit SFMM again for the day. Great park. Gave X2 another chance. This time, I avoided the calf punching but got the head bashing, so, I can honestly say X2 sucks, big time. The only other new ride I got in was Lex Luther's Drop of Doom. That was awesome. ALMOST felt like skydiving.

On Tuesday, before heading to the airport, I hit KBF again. Unfortunately, Ghostrider was getting scheduled track work done and Xcelerator was closed, but, Silver Bullet is awesome and Hangtime is a lot of fun.

All in all, I had a really fun time in California. Really enjoyed all 3 parks and what they had to offer.

I"m glad to see (Okay, I'm not glad you had a bad experience, but, you know) someone else who thinks X2 is a terrible ride. I've given it enough chances, which is 2, and I use the words "paint shaker" to describe it. Never again. In fact on my last visit I sat it out while my new to SFMM friend got the credit.

Other than that, sounds like a great trip. Superman seems to be hit or miss, and personally I'm 1 for 6 on dueling on Twisted Colossus.

Skyrush is my favorite coaster, so, it's not as though I prefer B&M hyper type of rides. X2 is just awful. A friend of mine sat on that thing for 39 rides in a row. I have no idea how he did and how he could enjoy it. As far as Twisted Colossus goes, I don't understand how they never installed lockers for or near it.

Ironic that Scream was briefly tied with Bizzarro for your favorite floorless coaster, since they are mirror images of each other.

When you say back row on X2, is that actually the back of the train (nobody in front of you as you leave the station)? Saw lots of people getting twisted around since you leave the station backwards. Sorry you disliked X2... When I rode X back in 2003 I had no idea WHAT had just happened, no idea which way was up. It was friggin amazing. Maybe the newer restraints aren’t as great as the original butterfly restraints? Of course the important question is, were the flamethrowers working?

SFDK is one of those parks that always looked like a lot of fun to me... Not sure why it stands out, on paper anyway. I was sad to hear they quit the marine life section of the park but I get it; Souska was a bit unpredictable.

How come you skipped out on California’s Great America? Railblazer, Flight Deck, and Gold Rush are supposed to be pretty good.

Sounds like a pretty nice little trip...

^As you saw in my other post, CGA was closed which I didn't realize when I booked the trip. The flight was cheap enough that it was ok. My calves got punched while I was sitting in the inside seat of the last row to leave the station. I REALLY wanted to LOVE this ride, but, I gave it the 2 tries and can't do it..

They still have marine life at SFDK. It was raining, so we only looked at some of it. Not sure which shows they still have, though. It is much nicer than I expected, especially after my friend from San Francisco who went up there with me told me that's the "Gangs" park. He was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't...lol

As you’ll see in your other post, I saw that CGA was closed...

I know SFDK no longer has Orcas, thought thebtest was gone, too.

Really nice trip report! I'm only a couple hours south of these parks. Montezooma's, Revolution, Viper...those were my first big rides!

I share your love for Riddler's Revenge. People complain about it, but if you know how to stand in the restraints, it's a wonderfully intense ride. I'm also happy to see you like Goliath and Silver Bullet. Those are both pretty underrated, generally. Personally, I don't find the roughness of X2 to ruin the ride. Yeah, it bangs you around a little bit, but it's such a terrifyingly disorienting marvel of technology that I just like to go there sometimes at opening on a Sunday morning and ride it three times in the first row to shake out the cobwebs.

I was at Knott's Berry Farm for the first time on 3/1 and SFMM 3/2 and 3/3. I thought ghostrider was fantastic especially at night I am surprised it isn't in the top 100 list honestly.. Agree that silver bullet was great it has a unique layout for a B&M Invert. the park was beautiful. When i was at Magic Mountain having ridden Green Lantern at SFGAD i expected Riddler to be awful but I loved it. It was smooth and didn't destroy my legs or groin. TATSU was awesome and Full Throttle was pretty fun. I absolutely loved X2. I was terrified every time I rode it. I only rode it in the front on both sides and inside and outside. Maybe it's just me but I found the left side much less jerky both times I rode that side. I thought TC was pretty good but only dueled twice out of seven rides. The let downs for me where Scream and Goliath. Scream at least for me seemed like it rattled most of the ride and I am a huge fan of Bizarro that doesn't seem to rattle for me. Goliath was good but I thought maybe at some point during my half a dozen rides in all different trains that there might of been some airtime but I didn't really notice any. It's fast and the second half is pretty intense so I guess I just went into it with high expectations. Also didn't get to Ride Superman either. Nice Collection Though.

Nice TR Zoug68. That's a future vacation for us. Been trying to get there for years. I am sorry to hear that you didn't like X2. My wife didn't like the Joker at SF Gr8 Adv, so I don't think she'll be a fan of that either. I'm hoping that I enjoy.

^Was only disappointed that CGA wasn't open, yet. Looks like a fun place, too. While the Joker at Great Adventure and its clones are uncomfortable, X2 was brutal. Maybe ride in the front. It's a very unique and intense experience, but, maybe it was because I rode it in the back. I have no idea how my friend sat on it 39 times in a row, especially since he loves smoother rides.