Northern California (SFMW, PGA & SCBB)

I'll make this as breif as possible... This was basically a repeat of our NorCali trip of 2000. Me my wife and our cats rented a large motorhome and drove from Southern California to the Bay area for some R&R & Roller Coasters.

Friday Oct 3 SFMW: Home of my wife's favorite coaster, Medusa. It's also my favorite floorless. It was as good as ever, and running well. It was a walk on, as were all coasters, all day. Very light crowds. Roar was also great, but much rougher than I remember it from 2000. I love that "covered bridge" section of the ride, awesome. We didn't bother with Boomerang or Cobra, rode them in 2000, no need to revisit either of those. On to Zonga, which would open and close off and on all day. I knew it was a headbanger, so I was prepared. I really liked it, but would only ride it once. I wish it had just lapbars. On to V2, which has a 6'3" height limit, I always thought the limit was 6'5"? I told the attendant I was 6'3" (I'm actually 6'4") and took a seat. Sadly, Intamin has seen fit to add that rediculous seatbelt on the side, and I was too large for the restraint. Oh well. I'll lose some weight and try again another year. We also checked out several of the animal exibits, which were all very cool. A nice break in the day.

All in all, a very good park with several good rides, my favorite NorCal park.

Saturday Oct 4, PGA: One word CROWDED. it was Christian Youth day or something to that effect, and as we headed into the park, I overheard a patron on his way out mutter "...longest lines ever, and I've been coming since '79." Not a good sign. ALL coasters and flats had FULL queues which spilled over into the midways. All coasters had a minimum 60 minute wait, Top Gun was probably 2 hours. We hit the log ride (to see the remains of Stealth, RIP), Psycho Mouse (for the cha-ching) and Demond. And that's it. Just those 3 rides took over 4 hours. Even all midways were literally shoulder to shoulder full of people. It was insane. It was the second most crowded I have EVER seen a park. We had lunch and went back in for Top Gun, but the stupidly long line and rather slow dispatch times turned me off, and we left early. Horrible crowds. IMO none of PGA's coasters are worth that kind of wait.

All in all, PGA needs better crews on days like that so the lines at least move. All 2 train coasters were stacking, and makes a long wait even longer. Moving on...

Sunday Oct 5, SCBB: Ahhhh.. this is more like it. Lots of people, but the actual lines were nothing. We had all day passes and really covered the train on the Giant Dipper. It was warm, and the train would fill up, making for a great ride, much faster with more lats and airtime than I remember from 2000. (which was cold and overcast, only half-full trains) We also did most of the other non-spinning rides there and had a balst. We also ate plenty of junk food, including the Gilroy Garlic Fries, yummy.

All in all, a fantastic place to spend he day (and lots of money) just having fun. And the 1924 classic Giant Dipper is a real gem, despite the Morgan trains.

*** This post was edited by Soggy 10/10/2003 2:52:22 PM ***

Just curious if thats the second most crowded what was the most crowded?

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I hope they kill that iron yuppie. Thinks he's so big. The great homer simspon

The busiest I have ever seen a park was Disneyland. It was several years ago, and it was a Saturday in the middle of Summer. My friends and I still call it "that one day."

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SCREAM with me... in 2003!