Coaster Con 25

I will try to keep this short and sweet and just concentrate on the
highlights of my first trip to California.
First of all, X was not running, and although I heard dozens of conflicting
stories on why it wasn't running nobody could really give me a straight
answer. I am assuming the employees didn't know either. After getting off
the Viper one evening I did manage to see them test-run three trains, which
was kind of cool to see how the whole thing works, or is supposed to work.
Anyway, I wasn't completely surprised that it wasn't running but that's OK. It
was a bummer but I can always come back. Hopefully one will be built that is
closer once they work out the flaws.

Six Flags MM:
Superman: The airtime is nothing like I have ever experienced. The initial
launch isn't as intense as the Hypersonic, or the xcelerator (more on that
later).....but FANTASTIC ride (when it was running of course!) One of the
things I liked about it is that it actually sounds like Superman, or a sonic
boom.....you decide! LOL!
Ninja.........a very good suspended.
Flashback.......how long has this been down? I always look forward to riding
anything from Intamin
Psyclone.......hands down one of the WORST roller coasters I have been on. No
airtime, just boredom and pain.
Colosus......kicks ass!!! Too bad the other train wasn't running. Not too
rough, loads of airtime! Nice!!!
Goliath.......the helixs and airtime are intense. One of my new fave coasters.

Deja-Vu.......loved it..(thank God for ERT!!!) 2-3 hour waits are a no-no for
me.
Batman The Ride....is it me or is SFMM's Batman faster and more intense than
the others? LOVED IT!!!!! I could feel the blood in my legs being pulled down
to my feet by the G's.
Revolution......allright, a bit smoother than I expected.
Ridler's Revenge.....Kick-ass. I am not a big fan of stand-ups but I
absolutely loved this one and it will rank in my top list!!!!!
Gold Rusher.......I have been on better mine trains, and some that are much
worse. Not bad.
Viper......Ouch, not a fan of the old Arrow cars, but I did it anyway.
Canyon Blaster......very good junior! Those last bunny hops are fun.

Knott's Berry Farm:
Montezooma's Revenge: This is actually the first Schwarzkopf shuttle loop of
this kind I have ever been and it was awesome!!!! I didn't think I would like
it. Who knew?
Boomerang......another OUCH!!!!!!
Januar....another surprise hit! Great for a small coaster.
Timberline Twister.....OK
Ghostrider..........HELLO!!!!! Kick-ass CCI woody. I found it to be rough but
not in a painful way. This is one coaster that lives up to the hype.
Xcelerator......I almost missed this one. Saturday my flight did not leave
until late that night so instead of spending my day at LAX I went back up to
KNott's and took advantage of the free pass. I was still kind of upset that
Knott's didn't let us ride with the employees Friday night but I got over it
fast. There was a line that went past the Plunge but I managed to wait about
45 minutes, and I am SO GLAD I went back. I am a huge fan of launchers and
this is by far ONE of the most intense ever. The hot rod themeing fits the
ride perfectly, and although the ride is very short.....it is worth it!!!!!
After missing out on X at SFMM I was glad to at least experience some type of
X coaster!!! LOL! I rode it and then drove back to the airport.....in a daze.

Intamin ROCKS! Now maybe Cedar Point will get one? Maybe? or Dorney?

California Adventure:
California Screamin: Very fun. I love the fact that it is choreographed to
music. Nice launch and turns.
Mulholland Madness........pretty much sucked, which is suprising since most
mouse rides are pretty good to excellent.

Pacific Park:
West Coaster.......nice surprise for a little coaster. Doesn't look like much
but the airtime is pretty good at the end.

Adventure City:
Tree Top Racer.......Fun. I think this was the longest ERT I ever had to wait
for a coaster ride my entire week! I think we waited about an hour.
Freeway coaster.......cute.

Minus the rides, I found SFMM to be overrated, not to mention being a very
dirty park, and most of the ride ops and general public were very rude (most,
not all). I have never seen a park so filthy in my life. I got the vibe that
the didn't really care about the upkeep, or that most of the rides kept
breaking down over and over.
Knott's, on the other hand, was very clean and the employees were very nice,
except for the ones who stapled us to the Ghostrider. Several ACEr's
commented on this. I talked to one guy whose eyeglasses were cracked by an
employee who went a little nuts with the lapbar. Someone told me that Knott's
has been sued several times and they can be a bit paranoid. Maybe this
explains why they ride op got bent out of shape when some of us leaned over
to hi-five the ACER's returning to the station on Ghostrider. It's like,
chill out!!!
Adventure City, Pacific Park, and California Adventure was very clean with
very nice ride ops and employees.
SFMM food was nasty, and Knott's chicken dinners were amazing. Adventure City
had some nice eats too, and more realistic prices.
We took a little side trip down to Topanga Canyon road on onto the Pacific up
to Malibu, while backtracking to the Santa MOnica pier and then up through
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and the Sunset STrip. Very nice drive.
The Coaster Con festivities were nice. The only time we went to the Marriot
was to pick up our registration packages and then watch the films and
participate in the banquet (the banquet food lines were much more organized
and much quicker this year, being that they had four lines instead of one!)
Excellent food!!!

All in all my California and Coaster Con trip was excellent, and it was nice
to see some old friends again. The ERT was worth it alone. Being able to
arrive before opening, go back to the motel or sightsee when the park gets
crowded, and then return around 7pm and stay until midnight or one is worth
the registration price alone! ERT is the best!!! I guess that is what hooked
me last year.
Being that these parks were new to me made it an overall excellent vacation.
I do have to say one thing though....so many people compare SFMM to Cedar
Point. I think CP, on the whole, kicks SFMM ass anytime. Maybe it's because
CP is cleaner, and more efficient and manages to employ competent and
enthusiastic people. As far as both park's rides...I can't really say. Both
parks have an excellent selection of rides.

Ok, so this is a long TR. Sorry! It was good to see you guys again!
See ya next year in Virginia
Look for some Coaster Con and my remaining KennyKon pics to be up on my site
in a week or so.

Tina Nelson
www.intenserides.com

(enjoying my memories and tan) :-)

Nice trip report! Everything was very true about what you said. I'll be putting my trip report up shortly.

In general I was pretty disgusted with SFMM in how dirty it was. The rides for me and my girlfriend were ok but only Superman and Goliath were re-rideable in our opinions. I was very disappointed in X being down. I have to agree with anyone who says that the OTSR dont need to be on Revolution. That would be a much better ride with out them. I also did find generally speaking that the ride ops and general public were quite rude. There were some exceptions however. I do think that they need to get some cleaning crews and better security there. I do not mean this to belittle the park. I guess I got used to the superior cleaning and security at parks like Six Flags Great America, Cedar Point, and Holiday World.

Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure were very clean and filled with tons of fun despite the crowds. Most memorable rides had to be Indiana Jones and California Screamin.

Adventure City is a cute little kiddy park that I enjoyed going to except waiting about an hour to ride Tree Top Racers during ERT! It was also very clean.

Knott's Berry Farm was quite a nice park and I will return in the future. I loved all of the rides I rode. Unfortunately due to a plane flight and prior plans I was unable to ride Xcellerator. I look forward to going back to Knott's in the future. Hopefully near future.

Despite the messiness of SFMM and missing X and Xcellerator I did have a wonderful time and will do it again!

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*** This post was edited by beast7369 on 6/26/2002. ***