SF Magic Mountain - 3/16/02

Associated parks:
None

Arrived early (about an hour before opening) and got tickets for $23 dollars, some woman gave me a coupon. After I got through the metal detectors with a lot of metal in my pockets, I went into the park and purchased some FastLane (Pass, whatever) tickets. No matter what anyone says, I like these things. It cut at least three hours of waiting from my day. Generally SFMM was very nice. It was clean, and there were people all over the park picking trash off the ground. However, the place I ate was disgusting. There was food, liquids, sticky junk, and trash everywhere - seats, floor, tables, EVERYWHERE. And to make things worse, my nachos were cold. Also, I attempted three times to purchase a churro, but they were always not ready. Very disappointing. 10 is the highest rating. 1 is the lowest, and 11 and 0 may be used in special cases.

X - 11 - This is the best roller coaster I have ever been on. Short, but very, very sweet. To start out, it is the complete opposite of every other Arrow I have been on. I usually associate an Arrow looper with roughness and a wicked beating. Viper, for example (more on this later). But Arrow has changed completely. On other Arrow coasters, your head is between the restraints, so it slams into their non-existant padding at every turn. Your head is above the restraints on X, eliminating the problem. And the head padding is excellent. It is the best padding I've ever encountered on a roller coaster. Very soft and thick, it prevents any pain at all. Arrow's restraints here are just awesome. Woo. As for the ride, it's fast, quick, and very disorienting. The absolute best part is definately the first drop. Before I rode X on Saturday, I wasn't exactly sure what was meant by "Skydiving Drop". Turns out it's laying on your stomach. It is, by far, the most thrilling, exciting, and just plain FUN drop I've ever experienced. I don't remember much about the rest of the coaster, other than that the seat movement was used perfectly. The ride was not rough at all. Very nice.

The line for X moved very slowly, even when two trains were used. A full half of each train is reserved for, and only accessable by, FastLane users. While this is nice for FastLane users (me), and works fine now, when a lot of people are using it, eventually popularity will die off, and trains will leave with a lot of empty seats. Perhaps SFMM will add a way for 'normal' riders to get to the FastLane half of the train. In the afternoon, the line for X stretched through the entire queue line, across the bridge to X, and down the stairs to the main path, about a 4 hour wait. FastLane recommended very much here.

Superman: The Escape - 3 - Very disappointing. I've heard good things about this ride, but now that I've actually been on it, I can say that it was one of the least entertaining rides I've ever been on. Tilt-a-whirl is more fun than this. I did not experience "6 seconds" of airtime. I received approximately 0 seconds of airtime. The most thrilling part was the launch, and even that was dull. 100MPH isn't as fast as it sounds. There is a queue line segment that is nearly completely dark, so it's hard to see where people are and when the line moves. Very annoying. And only 1 train was running on the day I went, so I had to wait about 40 minutes to ride. I wish I hadn't.

Batman: The Ride - 8 - I love this ride! I've been on it before (SFoG), but it's still just as fun as the first time. I give it an 8, though, because it was very rough at some portions, and because the queue line was disgusting. Gum, graffiti, and trash was everywhere. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the day the ride opened.

Goliath - 7 - Nice and fast, and the end was fantastic, but not much else stood out. I didn't really notice and positive or negative Gs anywhere in the ride, which made for a pretty dull run. Was it just me?

Riddler's Revenge - 9 - The best standup I've been on. Although, I've only been on this and Mantis... Still, it was a great ride. Huge loops and long, banked turns made Revenge very comfortable. Unfortunately my ride was not as good as it could have been, because my seat locked in an uncomfortable position. And at the end of the ride, the seat shot up and smashed into my crotch. It hurt for an hour.

Collosus - 3 - Not TOO rough, but nothing at all stands out on this ride. No noticeable airtime, no noticeable positive G's, and not very fast. Boring, boring, boring.

Viper - 1 - This is what I'm talking about when I mention pre-X arrow. Painful even in the loops! Viper is incredibly rough, and my head slammed into the restraint at every possible moment. And this is an old arrow restraint, so my shoulders also hurt from a restraint height problem. While riding, I sat in my seat fearing the next turn or inversion. I hate this ride! Knowing my past Arrow experiences, I'm not sure why I even rode this.

Gold Rusher - 6 - Boring, dull, just like the other arrow mine trains. Waste of time.

Deja Vu - 0 - Of course I did not ride it, but I have to say something. At SFoG in 2001, deja vu was CLOSED. At SFMM in 2002 it was CLOSED. I hate this ride. Will it be taken down? Seems like an incredibly problematic ride...

SFMM, a nice place to visit. But not much stands out.

Edit: Also X takes a very very long time to load. Maybe it was just the employees, but even some people with me, who never comment about slow loading, commented on it. SLOW SLOW SLOW!

*** This post was edited by HarKarVolBasTre on 3/24/2002. ***

The trash, Graffiti, dirt, scrm, gum human phesies, is all in the theme of B:TR! I guess the theming was that good! I think I know why SF chose the theme of geddo Gotham City, one less place to clean! Too bad you didn't like Viper or S:TE better I love them to death! And yeah, Deja Vu has been a real travistry.

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So what is better? SFMM or CP? I don't care! They both have 29 coasters between them that they build so we can have a good time!


Todd said:
Too bad you didn't like Viper or S:TE better I love them to death!

You... like viper? Do you also enjoy being assaulted with a hammer?

*** This post was edited by HarKarVolBasTre on 3/24/2002. ***

Viper is the best of the old school arrow loopers. You must have caught it on a very bad day or something, because you are going to find a lot of love for it on this board. personally, i enjoyed it much more than RR, and B:TR. Gotta love that first drop and the little hop at the end under the lift.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.


ravenguy98 said:
You must have caught it on a very bad day or something,


Very, very bad.

What time did you go on B:TR? We usually clean it around 4 or 5 and then again at night when everyone goes home. Why so late? Cause we're always short on people working to have 4 people (yes! 4 people...2 for the trash bags, and 2 for sweeping) go out an clean, so we (day crew 9-6) wait for night crew (6-8/10) to come in. If you don't like the trash, complain to GR and tell them that you think the ride operators shouldn't have to clean their rides. That's what we have PSA (park service attendent) for. Ok, enough ranting...

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Rode it at about 3pm. And no simple cleaning will remove years of carved-in names. Need paint.

One of my friends recently rode S:TE and she was also dissapointed.
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The word "definitely" is definitely the most misspelled word on the buzz.

HarKarVolBasTre said:


You... like viper? Do you also enjoy being assaulted with a hammer?*** This post was edited by HarKarVolBasTre on 3/24/2002. ***"



Yeah I do! My head easily is over the OTSR, so i get neck, shoulder banging. The ride would be brutal if your head was between the OTSR ( or line of fire as I call it) I love the roughness sence I don't feel it! The ride feels way out of control!
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Not MLK's words but mine..I have a Dream! I have a DREAM! I HAVE A DREAM!
I have a dream! That SFMM fans will be able to walk hand in hand with CP's!
AND no ONE cares what a coaster is and what a coaster isn't!

I'm not THAT tall, and I find Viper to be an awesome ride. When I went on it last June, there was NO headbanging to speak of.

I hear some people describe it like I do, and others hate it like you do. I'm not sure what to think about this one!

Strange that reactions are so different for this ride. Maybe its the trains or where you sit...

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

..or maybe it's just your homepark preference.

Some people dont want to habe to many great rides at the mountain...whoever thinks Viper is a bad , rough ride, well, I am not sure, deserves some mental treatment..j/k,

If you look for a smooth ride(which I think Viper is) get on a simulator ride, geez, we love coasters, coast around, banged around, g-forces galore.....my most dissapointing Coaster so far was Medusa West @SFMW, way to smooth, way to, well, boring . Just my 2 cents...

HarKarVolBasTre when I first rode Goliath and S:TE, I got no airtime either. However, if you leave your lapbar loose and push against it so it does not come back down you'll get plenty of airtime. The 3rd hill on Goliath is awesome, and the floating at the top of S:TE is the best part.

I also think Viper sucks. I first rode it several times in the the 90's and it was awesome, but the last two or three years I have ridden it, it was very nasty. I had less headbanging on Flashback. Vortex is the only Arrow looper I have yet to be bashed on.

Sorry to hear you missed out on Deja Vu. The capacity and reliability are poor, but the ride is pretty good, especially for Vekoma.

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Coaster Grotto - Save your Top 20 Coasters and Track Record Online!

Um, people have different tastes in what they like in a coaster, there's really not much more to it than that. I happen to think Viper is still a pretty amazing ride, and it doesn't matter much to me if no one else feels the same.

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Have you ever considered that maybe it's not the park that's the problem, but YOU?

Well how can SFMM control something (Some of Their guest) that's completely out of control. It's the GP that's runing the state of SFMM, no matter how much gum, tagging,trash they remove it's back the next day thanks to some of the GP. I don't know what makes human beings so nasty and trifling and just so disrespectfull, It's just really sad how people go to SFMM or any other park and just trash the place. Goliath surroundings where top notch (still pretty good) when it first opened, within weeks of it's opening the gorgeous plam trees that were planted was littered with gum. The awnings above the que littered with gum no matter how many times it's removed it's back within days, So what's a park to do asign a security guard to each guest lol.

I also love Viper it's a very good intense coaster, I also do not like coasters that are so smooth if it was enclosed you would swear it was just a stimilator. I like a coaster where you can feel it's powerful forces, feels it's elements, feel it's speed. IMO I perfer Intamin and even Arrows over B&Ms anyday, Intamins and Arrow are Monsters from day one, Wheres B&Ms are so smooth and forcelss ,that it might takes awhile before it's broken in enough to run with any forces i.e. Riddlers Revenge. RRV was so Forceless in it's early years it wasn't even enjoyable to alot of people, Now in he's present day he's running likes he's pure thee crazy out of control. Even Batman he's always packed a punch but now he's throwing knockout blows lol, I'm just waiting anyday now to here that the train has completely ripped itself from the track and is sitting in Colossus county Fair j/k

Just like some peeps were saying X was rough ........Imo X isn't rough by any means X is just very very intense in RCT it would probably have an intensity rate of 20+ ultra Xtreme lol. Now to me a rough ride is a ride that's feels like it's going no more then 10mph but still inflicts pain .......Psyclone lol, I just don't see how the ride manages to slam you from side to side, even though it feels like if there wasn't a lap bar you could get out and walk faster lol now that's a rough ride.

Goliath on the other hand just sucks IMO...........I don't care if they sped the chail lift up to 50+mph it still would be dull for a Hyper imo, How can it be fun when it missing over 90% of the elements that make up a hypercoaster lol

Superman ..........you must of had the lap bar pressed so far that the person behind you was wearing it lol

Also how can you say "SFMM, a nice place to visit. But not much stands out." I don't see how X, Riddler, Superman, DejaVu, Goliath, Batman or Viper don't stand out, Heck just one of those coasters are better then most have in their entire PARK .............I should go right upside yo head for sayin somethin dat dumb...........lol just kidding justkidding :O)~

*** This post was edited by rob4420 on 3/25/2002. ***

rob4420, it's hard for deja vu to stand out when it was closed and unrideable. As for viper, as I said, too rough. I don't mind some roughness, but that thing was brutal. It hurt more than when I broke my leg (really!), and that hurt. And now you all making me sad, about the lapbar stuff. Now I'll be sad until I go back in, oh, 2009, and try Goliath and Superman again. Waaaaaa.

Hmmmmmm. You mention that the finale on Goliath was incredible, but then you state that you didnt notice ANY positive G-forces on the ride. What part of the finale did you like? Most prople would consider the sustained high positive G-force of the double helix to be the grand finale.

I can understand why people may find S: TE disappointing and myself didnt feel any prolonged weightlessness the first time I rode. After a few spins, you actually begin to notice it. In fact, if you hold a coin in your hand, it will float in front of your face for a few moments before you skyrocket back into the station. Still, the only part that is thrilling is the launch.

As for Viper, I too LOVE Viper. It is a temperamental ride and may run better some days than others. Seat placement makes a big difference as well.

Did you ride Ninja, Psyclone, Flashback or Revolution? You didnt mention them in your report.

PS - If you ever do get a chance to ride Deja Vu, it is quite amazing.

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I've traded in my 2000 Giovanola for a 2002 Arrow X4D :)
My other car is now an Arrow X4D!

Viper is a fine ride, you just need to know how to ride it.

shockwave at SFGA on the other hand...

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Censorship is not cool

I was at SFMM on 3/17/02. I agree with everything HarKarVolBasTre has mentioned in his report. Except Goliath, I would have to give it a 9. I really enjoyed that ride and I have to give Collossus a 0. Boring. X was wonderful and I assume that the load time is long because the ride is still new and the ops have to "get in the groove" of the new trains.

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http://www.stridewithpride.com

Try riding Viper at night, it's way different ride than during the day...

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