SFA 4/23/05

My son and I arrived at SFA around 12:30pm. It was actually sunny out after they had been calling for rain all day. I knew that wasn’t going to last, so we just wanted to get all the rides in that we could before it rained.

We didn’t have to process our season passes because we ordered them online. We just had to go to the season pass office to receive our season pass coupon book. They had the season pass office fully staffed, and only had 2 people in there processing passes. They were keeping each other amused. We got our coupon books, and headed straight to the back of the park to see the status of SROS, and Batwing.

We got to Gotham City, and seen that Superman was broke down on the brake run (which it did all day.) Batwing wasn’t even testing at that point. We decided to hit up Joker Jinx since it was running.

Joker Jinx- They had a 1 train operation. After a 5 minute we were on in the backseat. The launch didn’t seem powerful at all. Maybe its from riding Storm Runner so much, and being used to that launch. These Premier coasters don’t do much for me. They are just a little better then average. Not sure if I like it more in the dark (FOF,) or being able to see all the head choppers. 6 out of 10.

After Jokers Jinx we went over to Roar for a few rides. Typhoon Seacoaster was also running. My son still hasn’t gotten to ride that, and since there wasn’t a wait we’d take that for a spin as well.

Roar – 2 train operation. We got right on in the backseat, and were able to stay on for 3 laps without having to move out of our seat. I like Roar most in the back seat because of the airtime you get on the 1st drop. It is a good GCI, but it is my least favorite that I have been on. 7 out of 10.

Typhoon Seacoaster – It had been 2 seasons since I had ridden this, and it was new to my son. It’s a decent ride, and better then most log flumes. I like the double drop going backwards. The last drop, and splashdown is nice too. We didn’t really get wet. 6 out of 10.

While we were riding Roar and TS we noticed that Superman was actually running loaded. We started heading our way back to there. When we got back to there it was stuck on the brake run again. We took a quick trip on their Round up (Forget the name) and then went over to ride Two Face, and Wild one.

Two Face – I really like these inverted boomerangs. They are smooth, and are pretty much uncharacteristic of Vekoma. Decent ride, but just like Jokers Jinx it is an average ride. 6 out of 10.

Wild One – This coaster was running fast. A lot faster then I had remembered. Good airtime, and great laterals through the helix. 7 out of 10.

We were going to ride the Tower Of Doom, but noticed that SROS was up and running with passengers. We made a B-line straight back to Superman. We got in line for the front seat. They were only running train. We were to be the next on, and it got stuck on the brake run again. At this point it had already broken down 2 times, and we had waited almost an hour. We decided to hang in there to get our ride, and then we’d call it a day.

They manually got the train back in the station, and let the passengers off. The weather wasn’t looking too promising by this point, so we thought that we wouldn’t even get to ride. Then the mechanic came up and asked us if we were ready for our ride. They opened the air gates, and we were finally on.

We headed up the lift with a light drizzle. Is it just me or my son that had thought that Superman was running really slow. It seemed to just barely make it over the 2nd hill, and the last few hills there wasn’t much airtime at all. It just wasn’t the SROS I remember from last season. Still the best coaster in the park. 8 out 10.

We got back to the station, and they had asked if we wanted to reride since they had closed the line off. They were going to shut it down due to the weather. We got to take a 2nd lap in the front seat. It made waiting over an hour worth it. Again it was still a very slow ride, but a free lap. When we returned to the station they couldn’t get our restraints to release, so we ended up having to wait about 10 – 15 minutes for them to fix that.

While we were waiting for them to release our restraints there was an enthusiast talking a lot of crap to the employees about how SFA is going to get a record breaker next year. “It will be just like Kingda Ka, but 500 ft tall.” My son and I got a few good laughs out of that. Almost every park we go to there are people there that are talking smack like that. Its just good entertainment. I believe in the “Those who know don’t tell, and those who tell don’t know.” saying. It holds up in most cases.

As soon as they got the restraints released we were treated to a major thunder storm. We ran directly to car, and called it a day. It seems that Six Flags is trying to make improvements in Customer Service. Their staff was trying to keep people happy. Examples like ride ops singing songs to people waiting in line when superman broke down. Their employee’s attitudes overall seemed to be better, and everyone seemed much more friendly then any previous trip I have had to SFA.

Batwing actually did end up running some loaded trains while I was waiting in line for SROS. I wasn’t too worried about not getting to ride it. For the amount of time my son and I were in the park we got a lot of rides, and had a good time. I’d think that is how most parks would want their customers to leave, and they fulfilled that for us today in 5 short hours.

SFA is not my favorite Six Flags park, but it is the closest to me. I always get my season passes there, and I usually visit twice a season. I am just hoping that they keep these improvements up through the busy season. They just have to get SROS and Batwing running reliable. They should have a good season with the additions to the waterpark.

I personally hope that Six Flags has a good season because I’d hate to see the company go out of business. I always poke fun at their parks, but to lose them could spell disaster for the amusement industry. Who would purchase all of their parks? I’d think that Cedar Fair would buy a few of them, but who’d buy the rest?

Excellent trip report coasterfantom. I'm glad to here you rode most of the major coasters including typhoon sea coaster which never seemed to be open last year. Superman was closed for me when I went two weeks ago, but I'm glad to here that they are continuing to try to maintain its speed when the temp is lower. Thanks for the report.

Evan

Even though my home park SFDL doesn't have the coaster count SFA has, if the customer service was better and if they'd run SROS with 2 trains I'd be more than happy.

All of Six Flag's parks have good rides, some are better than others but they have good rides. They just need to pick up on the other parts of the park that are lacking, and it looks like SFA is doing that.

Yes Intamin coasters do run slowly in the rain, it's not just you.

I don't think it is just running slowly in the rain. Every visit to SFDL last year had me wondering what happened to the power and force that Superman had when it first opened. I still love any one of these coasters, and cannot wait to ride them again this year, with the added bonus that so far Six Flags really does seem to be working on the service issues, something I noticed on my trip to SFNE opening day.

this is the second time I have heard that Sm:ROS has been down... instesting

So Face/off or whatever it is..... is operational now?

^^^Yeah, I heard they needed some part from some other country. That was a while ago but.

COOL...sound like I need to stop there before going to SKGAdv to get KK.. so I can get another credit

I don't want to speculate as to what's going on with Superman @ SFA. Last weekend, they would only run the train full. Yesterday, while I was only in the park for an hour. They were testing it with test dummies in the first two cars. I don't know if we're seeing a weather problem or not with this ride. Yesterday, temps were in the 60's, they run Superman in the high 40's and low 50's at times with Frightfest. Are the problems weather releated? Does the coaster have a chance to warm up during the day during Frightfest but because the spring air is cool in the morning's and warm in the afternoons the coaster is having a harder time completing the circuit in it's required time?

I'm glad you made the most of the day coasterfantom. If they can get Superman back up to full speed and keep the coaster levels up this park will be heading in the right direction.

Some notes on SRoS, at least as seen on SFDL's model...

-They don't seem to like the cold very much. At FrightFest last year (which has similiar temps to what you're facing now) they wouldn't dispatch unless the train was full... They said if it wasn't full, it could valley between the first 2 hills.

-As for the "lack of power," I attribute that directly to the updated restraints. I know the SRoS at SFDL like the back of my hand. And the first time I rode it with the newer restraints, I felt like the ride had been neutered. Where's the air? Those new restraints just staple you to the seat. The forces are the same, you just don't feel them in the same ways. I used to split my rides between front seat and last seat. Front for the view, back for the air. I find that now the back seat is just like any other, and you feel more forces in the front seat. So now I ride in the front almost exclusively...

Coasterguts they its hard to say what's going on with Superman, but I don't think that its the weather. I am not going to act like I know what is wrong with it. I am not Rideman. ;)

The weather shouldn't have had an effect since it was warm enough. I have seen it run much faster then yesterday on cooler days. It looks like they installed new wheels which could be that the new bearings just need warn in some, but again I am no expert.

The park is working to make improvements, and that is the thing that should be focused on. If they keep the trend going in the right direction they can easily turn the company around.

I like SFA early in the season. Its only an hour and a half from me, and there are never long lines. It helps get me through until Hersheypark(my homepark)opens. The park has a lot of potential.

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Coasterfantom2 said:

While we were waiting for them to release our restraints there was an enthusiast talking a lot of crap to the employees about how SFA is going to get a record breaker next year. “It will be just like Kingda Ka, but 500 ft tall.” My son and I got a few good laughs out of that. Almost every park we go to there are people there that are talking smack like that. Its just good entertainment. I believe in the “Those who know don’t tell, and those who tell don’t know.” saying. It holds up in most cases.

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LOL!!!!!! SFA getting a 500 ft. tall coaster LOL!!! Why would SF build Kingda Ka as the tallest and fastest coaster @ SFGAdv, then build the following year a coaster to break Kingda Ka record? Hmm... Sounds real FALSE!

As for Superman... Hmm... It will get better, its ONLY April. Lets just hope that ALL these rides are operating fine before schools start making field trips up there. Most likely crowds won't really start coming until Hurricane Harbor opens.

I do agree with Coasterfantom2 that SFA should be focusing on making improvements, which they are doing now. If they keep this up, we can see more additions to this park and the SF chain in the future.

SFI I have my finger crossed!!!!!! XX

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SF Critic said:

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Coasterfantom2 said:

LOL!!!!!! SFA getting a 500 ft. tall coaster LOL!!! Why would SF build Kingda Ka as the tallest and fastest coaster @ SFGAdv, then build the following year a coaster to break Kingda Ka record? Hmm... Sounds real FALSE!

Not only that but SFA has a height limit of 200' or so, because of Andrews Airforce Base being so close. Unless someone paid off a whole bunch of people to raise the limit by 300', it's not going to happen:)

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Coasterfantom2 said:
I like SFA early in the season. Its only an hour and a half from me, and there are never long lines. It helps get me through until Hersheypark(my homepark)opens. The park has a lot of potential.

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I've been to the park on Sundays between 10 and 2 and find it virtually the same as a early in the season Saturday. You might want to give it a shot if you haven't already.

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Sseadoubleyou said:
Not only that but SFA has a height limit of 200' or so, because of Andrews Airforce Base being so close. Unless someone paid off a whole bunch of people to raise the limit by 300', it's not going to happen:)

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A Very Good Point! *** Edited 4/24/2005 10:48:58 PM UTC by coasterguts***

I was there last night. Rode Joker 30 times in a row without exiting. That thunderstorm was crazy.

Is it just me, or is S:ROS a very temperamental coaster when it comes to operating temperature? I remember that it vallied opening day this year allegedly due to cool temps, and didn't it last year have a couple of days/weeks where they locked down a center car or two due to it going too fast?

-Paul!

I've never heard them locking down cars because it was going two fast. Thats new to me. Not seeing that's not the case, just never heard of that.

Coasterfantom2,

That was my uncle sitting behind you. He knew what he was talking about. He got that information from the operations manager. The height requirements were changed. A few other employees knew what he was talking about, too. Just wait untill next year....

Well coastergurl, I'd like to hope your right, but just be aware why we all seem so skeptical and would be until you had more concrete evidence.. for starters there's the height limit, then there's the fact that SFA really isn't that big of a SF park and you'd think they'd add something that large to SFMM or SFGAm or one of the larger parks, then there's the question of why they would beat their own record only a year after SF took the record esp when SFA is so close to SFGAdv... and finially, any proof that your uncle really talked to and heard this from the operations manager? I know the operation manager and could pick them out if need be. The operations manager has talked to me on several occations before the park has opened and they're not the kind of person that would reveal such details. Just realize that it's going to take A LOT to get people to buy into a rumor as lofty as this.

Don't forget that they're also getting an Impulse AND a water coaster for NEXT season, according to coastergurl. It only makes sense that they'd need to add something the size of an Impulse the exact same year that they're taking over the world record. It's not like a record breaker would pull in crowds on its' own. But I'm just a little boy, what do I know? ;)

Mike - not a boy and never confused with being little

Figures someone has to be there on Superman's train. The same time as me. That heard the same conversations that I did. That also posts on Coasterbuzz. ;)

I didn't mean to start anything. I was pretty much just making generalizations. wasn't I?