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I'll be at the park may 29 also, I will get some pics as well.
If you can't stand the heights, get out of the line.
A day at the park is what you make it!
Arrived at at about 10, scanned the cards and went to the line where the park opens. We talked with the security guard, and he let us be the ones to open the park!!! It was so cool. After that, we got our pictures taken with Daffy, Sylvester, Porky and the gang with the opening machine. Next, it was off to Gotham City.
First off, Jokers Jinx. We only had to wait one ride, then we were on. It seemed much smoother and faster. Paint looks great. Ride ops were very nice, fast loading time.
Next, Superman. Very small lines here too, maybe 5-10 minutes. Awesome ride.
Third, Batwing. Great as usual. Only thing that I don't like about this ride is how the sun gets in your eyes on the way up. Ride ops best of the day.
Fourth, Wild One. The lines were longer for this, about 20 minutes. I love this ride because of the airtime. Fun ride, not as good as last time.
After this, went out to the car to eat our lunch.
Then, we went on Mind Eraser. The paint looks nice, usual ride except for getting stuck. We were the second train, so we were stuck right by the building, I think it's the gocart building. The first train was in the place that it usually stops before coming into the station. After waiting about 20 minutes, the ride was fixed, we headed into the station, unloaded, and got our VIP ride cards.
Did Superman and Batwing again with the passes.
Next stop was Two Face. It had a pretty long line compared to all the others, about 30 minutes. Was a good ride. Did Wild One again, then called it a day with a ride on the swings and a Ben and Jerry's.
HH is looking great. They were working on Tornado, and it looks awesome. Can't wait until it opens.
Overall, very good day, best yet. Crowds were alright, and the weather was beautiful.
Knoebels- 4/28
As my sister and I approached the park, the sky became cloudy and the air became cold. We feared that the day might be rained out, but as 10 am and the opening of the park approached, the clouds began to part and the sun began to shine. We had a lot in store for us!
Entering the park, the first thing I notice is that they have hung banners from the lampposts with a picture of Mr. Six on the one side and an advert for season passes on the other side. The park was roped off, but we had no intention of going to the dry side of the park, least not yet, not when Hurricane Harbor beckoned. I did however notice that the opening show has finally been moved to its final destination on the newly created stage in front of the Grand Theater and as I had suggested, the ropes are placed in such a way that you can get to the lockers before the park opens.
At 10:30, the park and water park opens and we begin our trek to the new and amazing. They were smart enough to walk the crowds back to the main crossroads point in the water park to prevent too much running and trampling. The first thing to be noticed was the games; they easily made one of the biggest transformations with their bright paint and wonderful themeing. “The Wall,” the rock-climbing wall at the end of the row of games, wasn’t quite ready when the water park opened, but when I returned to take pics at the end of the day, they had finished the fence around the attraction and had employees trying out the ride. To the right was the newly painted Dear Park Plunge, which sported short lines all day. They didn’t do too much except rename the slides, paint the beige slide green, and paint the stairs colors to match the slide colors, but it’s still a fun ride and they did enough to make it fit the new theme.
The next big stop was Buccaneer Beach. They had the water running in the morning, but the area never opened. They were working on it all day and I’d guess it will be open before next weekend. It seems a little bare inside the fenced in area, but the landscaping outside the area is fantastic. They have a TON of beach chairs waiting and ready to be placed throughout Buccaneer Beach. Turning to the right you get your first glimpse of the renovated stores. Coconut Cove Trading Co sports a wonderful new paint job with lots of new signs. Sadly the new sign for the building itself is still being produced. Sharkey’s Market is your place for Hurricane Harbor merchandise. The shark still needs to be hanged (the pole is there) but there are lots of thematic elements and comical signs around the building. Straight ahead is a new Coca-Cola Cool Zone. The bottle cut outs lead to showers and water jets spray out from above where the two soda machines. The water was on when we entered the water park, but unfortunately was off by the time I took the pic.
We sat down our stuff and dashed to Tornado. “Sorry, it will open in about an hour.” That’s fine, plenty of other things to do and see. The first of which was Croc. Cal’s Caribbean Beach house. I love the colors, but I think they took out a lot of the interactive elements. It’s a shame, but you have to love what they did to the pump house. Bahama Blast was closed. From what I heard, they’re aiming to have it open by next weekend. The still need to add the pipe to the water fall where the ride goes from the closed section to the open section, they still need to put a fence along the queue (it appears the line will start almost under Tornado), and I’m sure they need a lot of test runs. However, the catch pool is full, the queue is poured, and they were working on the ride all day. By the way, the ride will not have a conveyor lift for the rafts, you can tell by the catch pool. I guess they figure that if you can take the rafts up Tornado, you can get them up Bahama Blast.
We then moved onto Paradise Plunge / Reef Runner followed by Mako / Hammerhead. The new paint jobs and signage make the rides look brand new. Both had reasonable lines all day, but nothing unbearable. From there we headed to the wave pool. The food building in front of the wave pool looks great and Calypso’s fits perfectly. The lockers have all been painted too, but the real sight is the wave pool. They laid a new dark carpet around the wave pool, which is very kind on the feet, and the backdrop to the wave pool looks simply wonderful. With all the wave pumps working, Hurricane Bay was really pumping out the waves. The Castaway Creek area of the park remained relatively unchanged except for a paint job to the nearby bathrooms and stage. I’d like to hope that this is a sign that this area may be renovated in a later “Phase II” to the Hurricane Harbor water park, but I can only hope.
By this time we had been on everything and just wanted to ride Tornado. The queue runs parallel to the queue to Mako /Hammerhead, though most of the wait time will be on the stairs up the attraction. Across the way, we noticed that the Coca Cola Beverage Hut was still under works, but they have a nice covered patio next to the hut that makes a great spectator spot for Tornado. We waited and waited, nearly ninety minutes. My sister and I were first in line and weren’t going to pass on the opportunity to be on the first public ride. We later found out that they were doing final tests on the ride. They needed to perform one hundred runs before they could open to the public and apparently they had done most yesterday, but still had a few more to do today. Much of the construction crew from ProSlide was on hand and they even had their chance to “Ride the Storm,” even if most of them rode in their jeans or even just their boxers. A while after noon, I’d not sure of the exact time as I didn’t have a watch on, the ride opened and my sister and I got the first ride. That’s right, I was on the VERY first public ride on Tornado and the wait was well worth it. A VERY fun ride indeed. A word to the wise, they have the yellow Cloverleaf tubes for groups of 2,3 or 4, but they also have green round tubes for groups of two that sit you I a yin-yang position (the tube has four holes, one person sits on one side with their feet on one of the holes and their but in the other hole, the other person sits on the other half of the raft in the same way, but so the two people are facing each other, almost like a yin-yang). By the way, we tried both and if you’re in a group of two, go for the green, MUCH faster and cooler ride. The slide itself is just massive, the drop is SO steep, and the view from the top is amazing. With the short lines a while after the ride was open, they were allowing people onto up the queue to the section that sits right next to the bowl and allowed people to view or take pictures. Don’t know if they’ll allow this later, especially when the line gets longer, but it’s definitely the best view of the ride.
Overall, the park looks good. They really need to do something about the pavement around the park as it looks ugly and out of place. There are still a few signs to be placed and a bit of landscaping that needs some work, but overall it was a huge change. Ohh, they need to sure up all the new palm trees they planted. There was a nice little storm and when I went back in the water park nearly all of the palms had fallen over as a result of their short roots. Tie them up until they have a chance to settle in!
As for the rest of the park, Batwing was running one train with everything else running two. The red train on Superman will restore all your faith in Superman. It’s running FANTASTIC with new wheels on it. The Batman Stunt show opened today and the actors were great for opening day. Very well rehearsed. Typhoon Sea Coaster opened around 4pm or so and ran well except for when an employee E-stopped the ride when a little girl wanted off and they had to restart the whole thing. They have planted LOTS of new palm trees back in this area too. They are converting the old photo booth into a new digital caricature place. Should open in about a month or so.
Well, that’s about it. We stayed till about 5pm and got sunburned pretty bad. It was a great day, but I really need to get back to Hurricane Harbor when the last element is completed and I can see the finished product.
Enjoy the pics (all 65 of them!)
http://photobucket.com/albums/y208/CoasterLover/SFA052805/
If you can't stand the heights, get out of the line.
What kind music was playing?
Did they remodel the changing rooms?
I love the I got Crabs at HH sign... Still laughing at that one.
Any announcements that the wave pool is about to start, other than the rules announcement?
How was the band?
It definetly doesn't look like they did anything to the pavement in the waterpark, yet.
The water park looks outstanding, barely resembles its old self. I can't wait to experience it my self.
A day at the park is what you make it!
But anyways, here's my TR.
TR for 5/28
Arrived at about 10 they were letting us in at 10 instead of 1030. They held us back at the Theater for "Totally Pop" untill 1030. At 1030 they dropped the CAUTION tape and we were off. My brother and I walked (cough cough RAN!) to Batwing since we know that it has long lines and he has never ridden a Flyer. we got 2 runs then we decided to hit up Superman. Only one lap, walk-on. For some odd reason, this ride does not deliver as it used to, but still a good ride. We were walking back to the Joker, got in-line, next person behind the air gates and "Were Sorry The Joker's Jinx is Experiencing Some Techinical Difficultys, please check back later." the whole 10 people in line emptied out on to the Gotham Midway.
After that little mishap we headed straight for Two Face. NO LINE! I officially love Invertigo's know. There should be more around the country. I meen, not the best capacity eater, but still better then the Standard Boomerang. We got two laps. My brother oficially wanted to go to HH now, so we did.
Hurricane Harbor
What can I say?
From not starting from scratch like SFGAm, I think they did the whole transformation process pretty darn good! The back drop for Hurrican Bay was what catched my eye the most, and also I had NO IDEA that Tornado was that massive! The first slide you see when you enter Hurricane Harbor, is Tornado. Great Job SFA on the whole possitioning of Tornado, it looks great. We started with all 4 of the Deer Park Plunge slides, which I thought to origionally body slides because the shoots were so narrow, but they use tubes on them fine also. The Deer Park Plunge is a great way to start off the day, ususally has short lines and multiple rides are avalible with no wait!
The New Slides
Tornado - I AM OFFICALLY A PROSLIDE JUNKIE! LoL ok ok, i'll calm down. For my first ever time on a proslide anything, Tornado was a great way to start. I love it! we got 5 rides on the thing! awesome!
Bahama Blast - Everything is in place except some little landscaping and some plumbing (looked mainly like plumbing and getting the water from the pump, through the pipes, and up the slide) - Not Open.
Buccenear Beach - It seemed like it opened on and off to people will very small children, but when we were leaving, I saw what looked liked to be a wrench and some screwdrivers on the side of the pool - honestly I HAVE NO CLUE! It might be ready but ya never know! Status of now - Unkown.
Ok, it started to POUR rain at about 2:30 for about 15 minutes, it wasn't a drizzle, it was straight down sheets of rain, and lots of it! we hid under the tiki bar (real name, is unknown, sorry!). Which was looking great by the way!
It stopped, we got some more slides then headed back to the theme park. Headed for Superman, 2 train operation finnaly, but my little Brother was tired and the line was almost to the entrance so we passed, headed back to Iron Eagle. Got on. Now, Iron Eagle and the Zamperla Roto Shakes compared to the Huss Top Spins, are about the same to me. The only thing that I like better about the Zamperla Roto Shakes, is that that spinning is not jerky and more consistant which = NO HEADACHE! Yes, I get headaches from Huss Top Spins, wierd I know. That was it, we headed out after that.
Overall the Day deserved an A- , the minus is for not having Bahama Blast open for opening day of HH and the lots of downtime for JJ. but hey, its JJ its usually down like a Vekoma Invertigo (hint hint caugh caugh the 5+ months of 2Face downtime!)
-Colin-
*** Edited 5/29/2005 1:06:07 PM UTC by Colin Fisher***
1) Music-They brought in a Jimmie Buffet cover band, and naturally they hit the stage right before the storm started. As a veteran of outdoor live shows, I feel for the owner of the P.A. system. I hope he haid some tarps ready, or he was going to have some wet speakers. I'm so glad I wasn' t sitting down front as he was getting some wicked feedback, and not like in the Jimmie Hendrix wicked feedback sense.
2) Changing Rooms-Nope, still the same. I think they're kind of dangerous the way they are now because of all the water that gets on the floor, and I think there's only one or two changing benches plus some booths with curtains. I'll have to remember to wear my shower clogs which I use at the gym. They keep you from slipping and also catching any lovely diseases.
3) I only heard the band from a distance-thank God (see above), so I wouldn't know. They had a nice tour bus so I guess they're not just making a hobby out it.
4) Wave Pool-I only heard the wavepool was going to empty for the mandatory safety break or whatever they do for the 15 minutes.
I have to second the comment about the new carpet by the wavepool as it's very soft.
A day at the park is what you make it!
here is pic. from May 21 when we opened the park.
http://gmail.google.com/gmail?view=att&disp=inline&attid=0.1&th=1040fb8d8eb1ddc4 *** Edited 5/30/2005 9:29:59 PM UTC by coastergurl*** Note my cousin's TTD shirt, holding the key. A CP shirt at SFA. ;) *** Edited 5/30/2005 11:26:56 PM UTC by coastergurl***
Knoebels- 4/28
Knoebels- 4/28
Well I just got back from the park, and boy was it a crowd!!!! Myself and 6 other friends approached the park at 11. The first thing we noticed when we got the the main gate, long ticket booth lines. Also the season pass line was VERY long going back to the main street entrance. Next we went to HH to check out the Ultimate Makeover and see WPGC radio station.
The waterpark was not crowded today. Alot people just walked there to see the Makeover. The waterpark was nice, but you can tell they weren't done. Everywhere we went in HH all you saw was Pardon Our Progress!!! The ground was really nasty to look at, but the new astro turf around Hurricane Bay is really nice. The longest line was Tornado. Didn't get on any waterpark rides due to weather, but some of my friends did.
Rides not operating in HH...
Shark Attack - Closed, but opened later I think
Bahama Blast - Under Construction, wasn't really working on it today.
Bucc. Beach - Water running, being tested, and alot of life guards.
Main Park (few things I want to point out)
Every ride had a long line and food stands also. Employees were expecting this. The longest line I stood in was JJ. The line went back to the entrance, but was moving good. JJ is truly loved, haven't heard anybody say it sucks anymore or goes to slow. Superman (i didn't get on today) had a very long line too, but was moving Very fast. Went on TF and the ride ops were the fastest too me. Some of the rides broke down, but opened again 10 mins later. Some places I went into the main park, they also had Pardon Our Progress.
Note: There were ALOT of fastlaners today, im soo serious about this. They filled up 1 train on JJ. The People that were waiting in line didn't complain because the line was moving fast. Fastlane was a crowd pleaser.
There was Alot of teenagers there, and a Good amount of families there also. Looney Town was packed with families and every SF show was packed also. The employees Very Nice and were helpful.
Well we left the park @ 6:30 and the season pass line was still packed to the main gate. They still pulling alot of people from the entrance. I will say about 3/4 of the parking lot was filled (almost like Fright Fest). About 65% were season passers.
All I can say is after Memorial Day and School is out, expect very large crowds. SFA is really expecting that and they were Prepared!!!!
P.S. everytime a person saw a Mr. Six picture they were dancing and were really into it. Some people were also talking about him coming Thursday, but won't be able to make it. Mr. Six is Loved!!!! Most people in the store were buying merchandise of him. I myself bought a souvenir bottle of him. *** Edited 5/31/2005 1:14:49 AM UTC by SF Critic***
We can't see your picture.
SF Critic,
Glad to see you had a great time. 3/4 of which parking lot was full? The front, the first overflow lot, second overflow lot? 3/4 of the first lot being full seems like a rather slow day.
A day at the park is what you make it!
coasterguts said:
Glad to see you had a great time. 3/4 of which parking lot was full? The front, the first overflow lot, second overflow lot? 3/4 of the first lot being full seems like a rather slow day.
Second over flow lot.
-Colin-
Well folks, I just finished my tour of SFGam's Water Park and let me tell you this, if our wave pool is as good as it has been in years past, we will have the better wave pool. Other than that, SFGam has one awesome water park. The only thing I found disappointing was the wave pool. I'm looking forward to seeing SFA's water park next weekend.
A day at the park is what you make it!
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