SFA 2005 Trip Reports (Starting 4/17)

THOSE ride ops. you mean.

TR: 7/11/05 Highlights/Very Hot/Light Crowds

Hours @ the Park: 4:30 p.m. - park closing 9:00 p.m. (after hours), didn't leave till 9:30 p.m.

Ride Status: Supes: Red train on transfer track; Iron Eagle: Closed; Krypton Comet: No need to explain; Batwing: I heard its open by ride ops/Unknown

Hurricane Harbor: Fairly packed during the week. Tornado, Bahama Blast, and Lazy River had constant long lines. The theming is still nice and not being destroyed by the GP.

SFA is starting to remind me of Dorney Park. Large amount of crowds in Wild Water Kingdom, low crowds in the main park.

Employees: Nice/Polite when they're are fair crowds. Weekends can be a hassle for them.

When the park closed food and souvenir shops stayed open past a good half and hour to an hour.

A side note, Wild One's station is looking very nice. Rides I saw mention in the station; Collosus/SFMM, Rattler/SFFT, GASM/SFOG, etc. Probably more to come. Though the queue still needs fixing.

Misters at Coca-Cola/Fanta Cool Zone and PBR were on Full Blast. A Big Boost for guests, because it was Blazin Hot!!!! *** Edited 8/14/2005 2:27:32 AM UTC by SF Critic***

^You want to see hot?you should've gone yesterday....by around 3:30 or so I felt like I was gonna pass out.

I don't get it why TSC wasn't open at all yesterday....KC is still closed & IE was stuck in mid air all day,the slowest crew of the day award goes to the ops at JJ & worse superman....now Wild one was a much different story as the staff was doing a superb job sending the trains out.

I agree JJ constantly has slow ride ops. I disagree with Superman though, maybe they were having an off day. Usually when i'm there they are pretty fast.

It was taking them close to8 minutes or so to completly check & clear a train for dispatch.....now that's slow.

As we all know supes is a popular night ride so the lines are huge after dark but I've been on previous trips where the waits were more like 15 to 20 minutes total,this year it's always taken nearly twice as long.

Did it get into the switchbacks? Superman never has it into the switchbacks.

Never? Are you sure? I've seen it in the switchbacks.

Well it certainly went beyond the transfer track area that's for sure......probably did get out to the switchbacks but of course after our front seat ride we just made tracks over to Wild One instead.

The year Superman opened, it consistantly filled the maze. Since then, I've seen it fill one or two rows of the maze, but that's it, and that is very rare...

Wow, whenever I go, Mostly on Saturdays, even in the late afternoon, they never get past the switchbacks. I guess SFA is really getting more people this year.

Yes it's very rare to see Superman get out to the switchbacks, but this year seems like it will be common, now with those restaints. Also the switchbacks all basically filled during the FF season.

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BATWING FAN SFA said:

IE was stuck in mid air all day

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I noticed that, but it's nothing new. I wonder why they leave it like that? Its very disturbing to see it sitting in midair, IMO. Plus I've never seen this ride ever get full yet this year. It doesn't seem that really popular anymore, even due to its problems. If this ride goes.... ok I'm gonna shut up.

I hope the ride dosn't go (Lets not even speculate that!). I like it better then the standard Huss TopSpin. Huss seats are uncomfortable, and the programs are just plain boring. The rotoshakes are much better IMO. But thats just my opinion so yeah...

*** Edited 8/16/2005 2:24:55 AM UTC by Colin Fisher***

Last time I saw it operational back in june it had a full queue so I have no idea where you get the idea that it's no longer popular.

What with enterprise all but gone(word has it that there may be a return) & KC out for the count that leaves the eagle as the sole inverting flat ride in the entire park........pathetic aint it?

I went to SFA yesterday (Monday Aug 15th) on a day off from work. Great visit! The parking lot was not even half full when I arrived early afternoon. The waterpark was humming...and guess what?! Out of lockers. I waited about 15 min and had to rent a tall locker...the biggest they have...for 8 bucks. SFA would make a killing if they would just invest in more lockers. Charge all you want...you will rent em. On a Monday, with a empty parking lot, and out of lockers. sheesh.

Anyhoo, I never rode Wild One before. What an amazing ride! One of my favorite coasters! Great speed, and great dips and turns. Fun!! I can just imagine how it must have been before the reconfiguration(s). Still a top notch woodie. I rode it three times without getting out of the train. No line!

Superman was one train only. Still only a 5-10 min wait, depending on what seat you wanted. Wheels need replacing...running not as smooth as it should. Still a great ride and one of the best on the planet.

Joker was a great ride as well. I especially like the broken down train locomative sitting on blocks next to Joker....wheels off and parts laying all around like a junk yard. Sad and pathetic.

SFA is a nice litle park...but has SO MUCH potential. It needs some TLC from corporate. An expanded water park (I know it is in the works) would bring in so much $$...

Wow! Their making progress on the locomotive. Before, it was just sitting on blocks. :)

There the kind of days I love at SFA. Not busy at all, and next to no waits. :) You didn't do Batwing??

Sounds like I need to get out there on weekdays because going on saturdays can be a real pain in the a**.

Yes, Saturdays are no fun with the real long lines and everything else. The only Saturdays that I went to the park were in April and May.

Psh, and everyone says that we don't need a new coaster because we never get full lines on our coasters.

Now Colin, here you go starting something... There is a big difference between running one coaster at peak efficency and having a line, then there's running a coaster at half capacity on a Saturday afternoon with the Village People and Sister Sledge coming in to do a concert. If SFA had lines out of the queue and was using the switchbacks 80% of the time, then yeah, I would say the park needs a new coaster. But that's not the case. The lines are horendously long in HH for each of their water rides. Fix that problem first, replace the two flat rides that have been removed in the past four years and then look into getting a family oriented coaster. I don't think your going to see SFA get another thrill coaster for another 5 years at the earliest, perhaps for the parks 10 year anniversary as a SF park.