After a day at Knott's with ghostrider closed, and the rest of the park being packed, my roommate and I were itching for some excitement. After thinking, we came up with a crazy idea which involved a road trip for our first visit to marine world. We took advantage of the fact that my friend goes to CSU monterey bay, and drove up friday night, stayed in his dorm, went to marine world saturday, and had a place to crash once again that evening!
I hadn't been to marine world in 6 years, well before Six Flags bought it, so this was unofficially my first trip here.
Coaster # 49: Roar- We decided to run to roar first, and waited about 20 minutes for the back. This was my first GCI, so I was rather intrigued and excited. I wanted to end the long running debate about which is better: ghostrider or roar? What a ride! This is easily in my top ten, maybe top five. Not as much airtime as ghostrider, but great speed, unexpected turns, and moments where you didn't know where you were going to go, especially during the part under the roof. The verdict: not quite as good as ghostrider, but oh so close. I laughed during the whole ride, something that I rarely do. Makes me wonder why we see so few GCIs being built.
Coaster # 50 Medusa: After this, we waited about an hour for Medusa, which would be my 2nd floorless, but were annoyed by the extremely inefficient loading staff. They were running 2 trains, but it took them forever to load. In row 7, the ride was pretty darn good. Slightly less cool than Superman Krypton Coaster, because that has a better drop and a cool turnaround atop the rock quarry. However, Medusa was almost as good as Roar.
Coaster #51 Kong: After waiting 45 minutes, they told me I couldn't ride because I am 6'6". I told them I had ridden before (Serial Thriller at SFAW, that is. The ride op would not understand if I said I went on one LIKE it, so I just said I had been on it before) and they remeasured and said it was okay. I know people like to bash SLC's, but I really enjoyed this ride! The front row was very fun. Not as good as batman at all, but still a very cool ride. I really liked the cool heart inversion after the drop, and than the bank to the side after that. Not rough at all. I will continue to ride these, but protest their construction, just because my brother can't ride them. Anything with a max height makes me VERY mad.
Coaster # 52- Cobra: I only went on this to increase the count, no other reason! :) As lame as Jaguar! is, at least it's cool because it takes you around the park. This thing only stays in a 20 square foot area, and just does some basic turns. OKAY for families, lame for anyone else.
We went to roar again, and this time rode in the front. Roar in the front row was very awesome, almost as good in the back. This is it's main advantage over ghostrider: the front is just as great as the back. Very fun, very wild, and very unpredictable.
Coaster # 53- Boomerang Coast to coaster: horrible ride op's for this one, waited 45 minutes. My roommate was very patient, considering we have one 5 minutes from our school. I, again, just wanted to increase the count. I was impressed with how much quicker the train went up the lift, and how much smoother this one was.
After this we saw the butterflies, Lorikeets, giraffes, tigers, and sharks. The animal areas were sort of low quality compared to sea world, but I remembered that from when I had come before. It was weird walking around, because I remembered the exhibits and theaters exactly, there were just rides all around too! It was really weird deja vu (not meant as a plug for a certain new ride at my homepark ;) )
We did Medusa again in the 7th row, this time waiting 20 minutes, and it was much better this time. So smooth, fast, and crazy. The third inversion (Zero g roll?) threw me out of the seat. After that, we waited 30 minutes from the front. WOW....that's all I can say. What a rush! Total freedom, I stretched my arms and feet out for the whole first drop...if they have coasters in heaven, this is what they would be like.
We got stuck on the lift hill for roar, and people were really scared. I think my purpose in being there was to tell them that I have been stuck on so many different coasters in my life and that it's no big deal. That helped them calm down, and the mechanics soon fixed the ride, and we got to fly through this awesome course one last time.
Overall, I was very impressed with this "young" park. The flat ride selection was absolutely outstanding...they had everything! Unfortunately we didn't have time to ride any of them. The park was kind of dirty in spots, but I liked most of the scenery. Could use more grass in some places. My main complaint was the parking situation, only two gates made a very long car line to get in! It was a major headache. Plus the lots were very small. I don't know how they handle crowded days.
This was a great trip, and a park which I hope to return to very soon. I will probably be going up again this summer for this and PGA, so I look forward to that. By the way, V2 looks outstanding. They have finished the back spike, and the twisting spike is halfway done. I can't WAIT to ride that one.
*** This post was edited by saviourmachine on 5/14/2001. ***
Very interesting TR. I'm glad you got on the SLC, but does anyone know why there is such an extreme max height on this particular one? I could be wrong, but I think the other SLCs allow at least two extra inches.
No, I think every SLC has the same height restrictions. At least Serial Thriller at Astroworld did as well. 78 inches, or 6'6".
