SFA 10/18 OMG
Associated parks:
None
MY fiancee, our friend Crystal and I went to SFA for the Fright Fest events. We are season passholders, but only for the other Six Flags parks. Keep in mind we did not go to this park expecting much on behalf of safety and quality.
First off, we headed for a back seat ride on Batwing. This is always an awesome seat for me, especially in the verticle look and the helix towards the end. We hit this first because we knew it would be in one train operation all day and wanted to beat the lines.
Second was S:ROS. we optioned to take a middle car of the train because we have been in the front and back a few times and wanted to try out the middle. This was walk on first thing in the morning, but only running one train. It was an awesome ride too.
Third we hit Penguin's Blizzard River. We got to ride in a raft with a veteran rider of this ride. This gentleman absolutely loved riding PBR and because of no wait in line, he rode over and over again. This was great! (keep in mind, we will be returning to this one later)
We soon broke for lunch because the park opened at 12 and we had only eaten breakfast, but afterwards took a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl, Mind Eraser, and Tea Cups just to say we did them.
After that, we hit Roar! This is one of my favorites in the park. It sits hi on my wooden coaster list right below The Beast and the beating I get from Mean Streak.
Around this time we started hitting the Fright Fest Hauntings around the park but did not get too far because we wanted to save the train ride and antique cars for night fall. With this, we returned to the PBR...
While in line for this, we noticed two of the boats sinking. When I say sinking, of course I mean they were taking on water more than usual and the top was just about even with the water. This is when one guest bailed out of the boat and was scournfully yelled at by one of the operators to re board the sinking boat. Once again, SFA operators are not the best in the world. Maintenance brings their breakfast to all the rides in the morning, the ticket takers smoke at least 4 cigarettes in front of us before opening the gate, and there was the hamburger being eaten while checking restraints thing from the other week. Anyways, back to the ride, when we entered the station, basically, one operator was really doing stuff (main control panel op.) The other two were too busy talking about how stupid the lady and guy were for leaving the sinking raft. While they were chatting away and not paying attention to anything, two other rafts, with unevenly distributed weight started to flip up on end out in the turn just before the station. Both boats were taking on water pretty badly too. For the first time in my life, I optioned not to ride a ride because I felt it was unsafe. When telling the operators that I was leaving because of that, I got laughed at. I went to Guest Services just to let them know of my little situation with the operators of PBR and had to fight my way through the crowd that was complaining about all of the other rides going down, rude operators, poor service, etc. Once again, I did not go to this park expecting safety and quality, I went to ride a few different coasters than I am used to and see some haunting stuff. SFA really needs to shape up and improve, otherwise, PKD will walk away with all the business. PKD got all the business from them tonight from Guest Services.
Sorry it is sooo long. Once again, be nice, it is my first trip report.
Damoniest
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How would you know that maintenance brings breakfast to their rides, if the park isn't open to the public yet? In their defense, they have a high responsibility job maintaining and keeping open all the rides (when they go down) and they have the right to eat too.
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Did anyone ever bother trying out the seats on the KMG Tango? And if so, were they male?
And Ride of Steel, it doesn't seem like they thought the Customer Service was so great.
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I'd like to thank the academy , and my mom , and my fans,and.....oh forget it , I hate you all.
damoniest said:
We soon broke for lunch because the park opened at 12 and we had only eaten breakfast, but afterwards took a spin on the Tilt-A-Whirl, Mind Eraser, and Tea Cups just to say we did them.
How do you get in the park before noon? Even better, how do you get in the early enough to see them eat breakfast? Oh and Did you ride Wild One? How was Two Face? How was the train ride and antique cars?
Nice trip report but those are just a few details you left out. Your trip report stops in broad day light with "Your Bad Experience" on PBR. To tell you the truth, I have rode PBR at least a dozen times this season and at no time have I ever felt unsafe on this ride. Sure the boats take on a little water but only enough to get your feet wet. Just out of curiosity, how did the guest try to exit the sinking boat before they were "scornfully" yelled at by the operators?
There are some holes in your story and I'm not so sure you went to the park yesterday.
*** This post was edited by coasterguts 10/19/2003 8:05:04 AM ***
Damoniest: if I'm not mistaken the antique cars (Great race) isn't even open during frightfest(it wasn't running on my last visit) so how could you even say you've ridden it while you were there?
Much like Coasterguts said where is the rest of the report? once it gets dark then that's when most of the frightfest activities take place,such as the train ride,halloween lights & most of the other halloween shows,so in order to really experience frightfest you've gotta be in the park after dark so to speak.
I've been on PBR many times myself this season & yes the rafts do get a little waterlogged but it's nothing to worry about,usually the waves created by a raft coming in behind yours create a little turbulence that happens to send a little bit of water into the raft but not enough to capsize it,look at how much water the rafts on Renegade rapids take on & they're still floating so there's no real danger of anything happening on PBR.
I-Fan do you know by chance if they ever plan on bringing back trail of terror? sure halloween lights may look good but it's no where near as good as trail of terror was & I hope they bring it back either next season or for frightfest 05.
BATWING FAN SFA said:
look at how much water the rafts on Renegade rapids take on & they're still floating so there's no real danger of anything happening on PBR.
True, but rapids rides like Renegade Rapids have drainage systems to allow the water to drain out of the raft, the rafts on PBR have no such drainage system. I have, once or twice, been on a raft when it sinks down very low into the water, and I could see how someone on the raft could think it's going to sink and abandon ship, but I've never actually seen it take on water when this happens.
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If you can't stand the heights, get out of the line.
I would not ride a ride or in a seat that I feel unsafe in. I would also go to Guest Relations. SFA needs to get their head out of the money pit and watch their staff....They should not be smoking or eating while on the job. Only on breaks, a glass of tea, soft drink or water is fine, but not food. In no way should a staff member be rude unless a person has put them selves in danger with no reason.
*** This post was edited by CoasterPreservation 10/19/2003 5:02:12 PM ***
Last time I rode PBR it did seem like our raft was getting swamped a little bit in the back,but that could've been because of a heavier than usual passenger on that end of the raft,I wouldn't go on an unsafe ride in the park(Mind eraser) but I don't see anything wrong with PBR & in this situation these idiots jumping out of the ride like that could've put themselves in more danger than if they had just remained seated.
For the record CoasterPreservation, I have never seen any park staff eat/drink while operating rides. Talking with other staff members is another story. BTW, how can SFA management have their heads in the money pit, WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY.
Are you calling getting of a raft not dangerous, what if another raft came in behind them while they were getting out, hit them and knocked them off balance. Tipping them over the side of the raft and the guest would have hit their head on the wall. Sorry the only blood on concrete I want to see is what is suppose to be their during FrightFest! I also back the ride attendants 100%.
I'm also not trained on this ride, therefore, I can't tell you if the ride needs to be balanced or not. I know that many of the round rides I've been operating recently, such as the Chaos, do need to be balanced. In the case of the Chaos, it'll stop if unbalanced to "protect" itself. Were there any heavyset people onboard the rafts at the time? That has been the number one problem of stoppages on the Chaos.
Whitewater West has designed PBR primarily as a dry ride. In the many times I've ridden it, I've gotten stuck in the roundabout area, awaiting to come in on the belts. The boats just bounce into each other, never overriding, or tipping. I'm not trying to discount your story, I just wish I were there to have seen it.
BFSFA, Frightfest attractions are a whole other department. I know nothing about them. They did try two-train operation on S:ROS today, and it didn't quite work out too well. There were periods of closure during the day. I saw multiple trains test well though before the public came in. Good old Intamin.
Coasterguts, how would you know that SFA has no money. My checks clear every week. Would a park with no money be as decked out for Frightfest as SFA is? I doubt it.
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Did anyone ever bother trying out the seats on the KMG Tango? And if so, were they male?
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan 10/20/2003 1:02:49 AM ***
Intamin Fan said:
Coasterguts, how would you know that SFA has no money. My checks clear every week. Would a park with no money be as decked out for Frightfest as SFA is? I doubt it.
I shouldn't have said SFA, I was just repeating what demonists said which was SFA Management. The fact is and if you read the financials for SF you will know the company is pretty strapped for cash. Hence the $75,000,000 for cap ex next year, hence the reason why they don't just go ahead and fix the broken rides or get consultants to come in and show them how to fix the rides. BTW, the decorations for FrightFest are no more than what they did last year and what they can scrape from the barrels in storage.
Damoniests you don't bother posting here in the first place. Until yesterday you made one post. A very pro PKD and very anti-SFA post. I'm tired of reading trash about SF Parks when other parks pull the same type of stuff. Want me to believe your next trip report a little more visit the park a little more often and post here a little more.
*** This post was edited by coasterguts 10/20/2003 6:13:01 AM ***
It would be a horrible shame to be banned from a park OR MANY PARKS for "trying" to be humorous.
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never met a coaster I didn't ride (except Junior Geminii) :(
coasterguts said: I was just repeating what demonists said which was SFA Management. The fact is and if you read the financials for SF you will know the company is pretty strapped for cash. Hence the $75,000,000 for cap ex next year, hence the reason why they don't just go ahead and fix the broken rides or get consultants to come in and show them how to fix the rides.
you really should do some investigation PRIOR to posting your allegations.
ie: SF INC brought in Premier Rides to get all the Deja Vu coasters operational, and from what I've heard they all ran this year (I could be wrong)
ie: at SFA they concentrated on Typhoon Seacoaster this spring, and once it opened, it remained open the rest of the season.
ie: at SFA tower of doom was repaired in the last month, and is now operating all sides with apparently little down time.
true there are six flags parks that refuse to fix or run all the rides, but that is not an issue at SFA!
SFA had a nearly 10% increase in attendance last year, which is definately NOT what happens to a poorly run park. I agree that the park isn't everything it "could" be, but it's far from what the original poster indicates it is.
SAM
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never met a coaster I didn't ride (except Junior Geminii) :(
coasterguts said:
Yes Sam, however, Tower of Doom has been broken for well over a year, Typhoon Sea Coaster might as well have closed this season, Iron Eagle remains closed, S:ROS is having problems and Batwing well, Batwing limps along. You have to wonder what would have happened to Two Face if the media didn't catch wind of the problem. Goodness gracious, you have to throw your hands up in the air and call in the experts.
Do you "honestly" think there's a conspiracy to leave rides broken? SFA isn't one of those parks. yes TOD was broken and Intamin was called to fix it which they never did. So SFA had the time, and did it themselves. Superman.......is from intamin....need I say more
Batwing is from Vekoma......nuf said there
Typhoon see coaster......see above re: TOD
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never met a coaster I didn't ride (except Junior Geminii) :(
Fixing TOD was a good start,now they just gotta get TSC working(I never managed to ride it this year) & as for IE that ride is so complicated to work on & it's gonna take some time to fix it.That's not SFA's fault for it being down though.
Let me end this by saying one thing. I enjoy going to SFA I really enjoy the park and that is one of the reasons why I am so hot blooded when it comes to fixing things like rides. Broken rides leaves a picture in the GP mind. Whether a particular ride is unsafe or it could break down with me on it. In some way's it's almost as bad as a ride with riders on it being shown on CNN. Enough broken rides in one trip and it's the equivalent of a 1000 words or telling 12 of your closest friends.
*** This post was edited by coasterguts 10/20/2003 2:45:23 PM ***
*** This post was edited by coasterguts 10/20/2003 2:51:35 PM ***
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