Associated parks:
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It wasn't long until I ran into a flock of Coaster Zombies who were there to celebrate Sam Marks birthday. Happy birthday you old fart I'm not much for hanging out in large crews of people, so afterwards I ventured off on my own. I wound up riding with a teenager and his friend for the rest of the night. One of the kids sat out some of the rides, so that gave me someone to ride with. It was also fun to ride with someone who doesn't know statistics, ride manufacturers etc. We were unable to beat my record of eight flips on Krypton Comet, but that could've been due to a weight difference (I weigh 170, he said he weighs 114). We managed four flips, including a scary forwards-backwards combination.
I decided to pass on Batwing tonight. Going back to Roar we hear a very loud band playing under the pavilliion across from Shipwreck Falls. They're a Black Sabbath cover band. I'm sure they would've made Ozzy proud.
Me and the kid tried riding Iron Eagle, but we only got as far as sitting in the seats. Once again, the Eagle was not able to fly. Going back to Gotham City, it was time for some more laps on S:ROS. I can't remember if it was here, or earlier, but I finally met the infamous BatwingFanSFA. To avoid any kind of confrontation, I decide not to reveal my screen name. Getting the last ride of the night, the kid & I sat in the front row. Everyone else behind us had to fill out the train in the other rows. Sweet!
Day 2
I decide that I'm going to wear my heavier jacket today. Arriving around 4pm, at first this didn't seem like a good idea, as it wasn't too cold. It's noticeably less crowded also. Picking up free ticket for April 2003 number two, I enter the park. First up was Roar, and as I go to get into the seat, someone tries sit on my lap. It's Sam Marks from Coaster Zombies. Bastard. After I get off, the group wondered around and hit a bunch of rides, including some flats including Falling Star, Cyclone, Rodeo, and Octopus. We also rode Two Face and Wild One, which had a disgusting amount of air in row two. It was great. We then went and took another ride on Midnight Express.
After losing two of our crew, the four of us decided it was time to eat, so we stopped at Heritage House, where it was only slightly warmer than it had gotten outside. It was once again really cold once the sun went down. It turns out the heavy jacket was a good idea afterall. Normally, enthusiasts try to "shutdown" S:ROS for the season, but no one seems interested tonight. It's just too damn cold. After one last ride, I bid adeau to the three friends I was riding with. I decided I'll take one last ride on Batwing for the season. You know, this is a really comfortable ride with a heavy jacket on. I also decide that with the cold that I wouldn't be taking any last rides on Ride of Steel. My last ride for the season turns out to be Roar, and what a fine way to go out. Next up was shopping.
During the summer, I promised myself I would never by another coaster t-shirt (I've got too many already), but at half-off on everything, I had to have the Joker's Jinx t-shirt at around $8. You can't beat it.
To sum things up, it was a much improved year. Operations were better, employees were nicer, and also much faster than years past at times. Joker's Jinx got lapbars, which made for an amazing ride. The park looked nicer due to all those lights they put in, not to mention the extra trash cans. Now they just need to add a bathroom by Superman and it'll be all good.
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 11/3/2002. ***
So that was you that I ran into while in line for S:ROS for the last ride of the night?,I suspected just as much. Any how why were you worried about a confrontation of any kind?
You should've gotten to the park much earlier because around opening everything was virtually a walk on & yes Iron eagle was up & runninig at that time,oh well I guess you gotta wait till next season to take it for a spin.
Ialso happened to catch a glimpse of Sam in line for S:ROS as well just as our train was pulling back into the station,it seems that he decided to celebrate his birthday in style albeit frezzing his butt off just like the rest of us.
Anyways that was a great TR and a fabulous way to close out the 2002 season,I can't believe it first runing into someone from my local Giant food store & then running into a fellow coasterbuzzer,what a great way to end the season. :-)
Hurricane Holder said:
So you made it to the freeze fest on Sunday. I was there all day, and rode all the rides countless of times. On one of my trips on Superman, I was waiting in line when I heard a bunch of guys turn around and go...."Oh Sam" and "Hey Sam" and all that stuff. It wouldn't of happen to been any of you was it? Anyway, did any of you happen to go into Brutal Planet? I didn't know what it was, so I paid the 5 dollars, and I go in and probably had 10 heart attacks and crapped my pants a few times as well. It was a nice day, but could the employees have been any lazier. Roar was a walk on and you still had to wait 10 minutes before the train departed. It's going to take a lot of work from that park to steal my favorite status from Pkd. Oh Well!
Actually, I was pretty ticked at the staff on Roar as well. I don't know what their deal was. This was the first time all season I had problems. Just dispatch the train for pete sake!!! They were arguing over something, finally a manager showed up and said would one of you mind disptaching the train. All of us were just sitting there thinking I'm trusting my life to a bunch misfits that can't put the guest first and their personal differences second. I only complained to management once this season. They almost had my second complaint but I didn't want to ruin the fun I was having. If I ever see this kind of behaivor again, I will complain, count my word on it. (Just in case Janet Porter is reading this group).
Oh yeah, and one more thing. They should rename Batwing to Batpuke, because I've only been to SFA twice, and both times I've gone somebody has puked on Batwing. First time it was on the train itself causing a long delay to clean it up, and this time, somebody puked right as they got off the ride. No delay, put we did have to watch our step as we got off the train. And I thought all the puking in RCT was strictly a video game thing, boy was I wrong. ;)
Freeze fest? LOL,it wasn't much warmer during the day that's for sure.
As far as efficient staff goes,I think they did a fairly good job except for the ride op over at flying carousel,instead of checking the ride she was busy talking with someone in line who obviously must've been a personal friend of hers or something & it took her at least four walk through safety checks before she finally started the ride,as is quite a few people just got tired of waiting and got off the ride.
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BATWING FAN SFA said:
she was busy talking with someone in line who obviously must've been a personal friend of hers or something -----------------
I wonder what he said to her that made her so dizzy.... Geezzzz, this weekend was not the best weekend for Ride Ops at SFA.
Normally, I'm not one to complain about appearances. But if SFA is going to stay open late in the season like this, they need to outfit their staff with wind breakers.... On some rides I couldn't tell if it were actual SFA staff running the rides or what ...
Intamin Fan said:
Hey, if you knew you were going to be unemployed, would you work as fast, even before you factor in the extremely cold temeratures? Probably not. And let's not forget that a lot of dispatch problems are caused by the guest, and not the attendants.
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Dude, you're getting an Intamin!
I'm not sure who you are talking to Intamin, but, I would like to note, while I was at the park, every ride I was on was being disptached efficently EXCEPT Roar. If your not going to do a job right then best not do one at all. While I'm a season pass holder, a lot of people still paid anywhere from $24.99 to $34.99 to get in the park and they still deserve to be treated as any other guest was this season. Whether I'm going to loose my job or not, SFA still paid them for being their yesterday, in fact, to keep them on this late in the season I would anticipate they even provided some sort of incentive.
I decided to close out the season at SFA also. After spending three hours at my home park of SFGAdv on Saturday night, and getting on only three rides, I wanted to take my chances on something different. It turned out to be a great decision, as we were there at the opening and everything was a walk-on. It was not until mid afternoon that the crowds started to arrive.
As for the temperature, it was much nicer during the day on Sunday, than it was at Great Adventure on Saturday night. Medusa below freezing is very exhilirating though.
Anyhow, back to SFA. Started with 2 rides in a row on S:ROS without getting off, followed by 2 rides on Batwing. We managed to hit all the other coasters in the park at least once, along with a few flats. We finished the season with one more lap on Batwing, followed by our last ride of the year, S:ROS.
A nice way to end the season, which started at Wild Adventures in February, and included 180 different coasters(150 for the first time), 32 parks, 15 states and 2 countries.
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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 227
SJCoasternut said:
A nice way to end the season, which started at Wild Adventures in February, and included 180 different coasters(150 for the first time), 32 parks, 15 states and 2 countries.
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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 227
Wow!!! I'm deeply honored you chose SFA to finish the season, although it doesn't sound like your season is over. I'm impressed with how many you rode in one season.
SJCoasternut you managed to get on all of the coasters at SFA atleast once?well I managed to get on all of them at least twice withexception of Two face & Mind eraser,not to mention riding S:ROS a total of three times as well as all the major flat rides too.
Now that's what one may call a very fitting end to the season.
BATWING FAN SFA said:
I'll be returning in April but of course I'll be carrying my season pass with me so there's not much real need for the free ticket even though I did pick one up anyway.
Find a nice looking 'companion' and take them. If your lucky, it may be a little nippy outside and scared to death of S:ROS and ask you to wrap your arm around them as you climb the lift hill together. Just beware of any commitments on the way down that lift hill. The rest of the coaster is full of hills and tight spiral helixes. If you catch my drift....
I-Fan, awesome meetin up with you again!! im still sorry we couldnt get together any this summer, but we can always meet up sometime this winter and catch up. id LOVE to tell ya all about this summer. anyways...awesome TR, i too took advantage of the 50% off sale, and got that bright orange "Six Flags" shirt with the cartoon of the guy puking!! haha:)
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Holiday World; Knoebel's-today's cures for today's common theme park :-D
Legend...who would have thought that a tree could be turned into such madness :-D
Vacoasterfreak were you in line for S:ROS on saturday night just around closing as well or did you go on sunday?
If you were there saturday night then perhaps maybe you might've seen me I was in line for car # 1 row #1& was wearing a blue & yellow jacket & carrying an SF bag as well as a black & yellow fannypak.
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