My take on SF Great Adventure on Sun of opening weekend.
Associated parks:
None
Well, I arrived at the park before opening, along with some very cold, wet, and windy weather. Even so, I enjoyed my stay at the park which lasted til about 2pm. The following is my account of the day which was mostly positive with a few head scratchers thrown in.
First off, I did not spend any time in the park during the 2006 season, so some of what I list here are things that might be old for some of you....not sure it they are new for this season.
Like for instance, the twenty or so signs leading up to the parking attendant kiosks that read CREDIT CARDS ONLY, NO CASH OR DEBIT CARDS ACCEPTED.?? Could this really be true, they do not take cash as a form of payment to park?? I mean, the signs for NOT just for one lane, they were all over the place. That was weird to me!
Anyway, After having my pass processed outside the park in the building usually housing the preview center, I headed off to El Toro. I had yet to get on this crowd pleaser since the last I went was in early 2005. Now, the ride was fantastic! Smooth, fast, fun, and a pleasure to look at and watch. However, I do have a question for those "in the know". Now, when I first arrive to the line, they were testing with the water dumbies....i understand that...after about 20 minutes of that (which..shouldn't that be done before the park opens) they let us up in the station and I am going to be on the first train out! They then announce that they will load the first train but will hold it at the bottom of the lift while they add the second train. Cool....Then they state that they have to do this so that the weight will "be right" "because if we want consistant operations throughout the day they need to do this while adding the second train"....WTF? So, in order to not have the ride break down, the first train load of riders must be held at the bottom of the lift while the second train is added....due to some weight issue...lol. El toro remained a walk on for at least an hour.
Nitro, awesome as always and a walk on.
Everything was actually a walk on. While I was paying attention, Superman never ran and Kingda ka was down due to winds and sprinkles. I guess it hurts to travel at 128mph with rain pelting you in the face.
The park was beautiful. What I thought was an awesome and productive idea was to give EVERYONE (security and other personnel) "trash grabbers" to hold onto and use as they are walking around. Great idea!
All cast members were friendly and smiling. Security people spoke to you as you passed them.
Why the Batman and Robin the Chiller sign is still up is a head scratcher?
Also, not sure if this was added last year or this one, but the path into the Golden Kingdom from the midway area was nice.
The "no smoking" campaign was very very clear. Ray Charles could see that they mean business about not smoking in park. Signs and announcements everywhere.
They apparently think we are all fools to lead us to believe that they are doing the "locker thing" for our safety and not for their profits....LOL.
The new Q-bot system looks better and I like the new placement of that facility....in front of the dolphin show. (again not sure if this change was this year or last).
Question, I saw a sign saying that Congo Rapids only operates from Memorial day to Labor day. Not that I would have ridden it today....but that bites. Is that new? I am glad most parks run the water rides in the spring and fall too.
The only real negative I have, and this goes for all corporate parks, is I hate the brand names...Johnny Rockets, Papa Johns, etc...Blah.
Oh yeah, one other thing....No one in guest relations had ever seen the "letter" from Six Flags Mastercard, that stated I had a season pass. The form must have been passed off to like four people who didn't know what to do with it. Finally, they just gave me a pass...lol.
Anyway,
just my thoughts
Kevin
Why did they remove the swings for goodness sake.
The swings, Chaos, Enterprise, looping starship, that Frisbee thing, The ride that is where the shooting gallery is now, the Time Warp out by the lake, the Cow thing from in front of Viper, the Evolution....and I could go on. I do realize that some of these are in other parks now, by why keep removing rides from a park that has capacity problems on the weekends in the summer? Do they realize that New York City is only an hour away??
Ok, enough ranting. I do love the park though!! LOL
Kevin
LOL.
Nice little report. We have a couple free passes and free Q-bots to use this year due to a horrific experience a couple years back. Nice to see some things have improved.
It seems odd they would only accept credit cards as payment for parking.
It's no secret that GA is in DIRE need of some good flats a la SkyHawk/MaxAir type. I'm looking forward to our future free visit. :)
cubkev said:
The big media speech was that GA was going "to war on long lines.."
The War On Lines ended up being a War On Six Flag's Budget, I suppose.
Scottt said:
I'm pretty sure all businesses have to at least accept cash as a form of payment.
http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
"This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services."
http://s280.photobucket.com/albums/kk164/sros1fan/Gradv%20openingday/
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