SFA 5/28/05 Hurricane Harbour-not quite ready yet

As I guess to be expected, HH was not quite ready all the way yet. When I first arrived, every new attraction was listed as closed. Meeting up with my friend Shannon we did a walk-thru and determined that Tornado looked like it might open because of the water running in the funnel. It all looks pretty good, until you get to the back section where everything looks exactly the same except for the bathrooms near the stage which were repainted a very bright color. Hurricane Bay's backdrop looks amazing. While we went towards the main park to ride, we saw them testing Buccaneer Beach, and we briefly saw some lifeguards being briefed.

After we rode a total of four rides-S:ROS, Wild One, The Rodeo, and Mind Eraser, I came back to sample the new HH. Well by this point Tornado was open, and it had a pretty substantial line. Since Shannon wasn't riding she climbed the stairs and got to check out the action. She said it looks pretty good. We're going to try to check it out on Thursday. Unlike SFNE, there is nowhere to check out the action ahead of time until you're on the stairs, so this might scare some folks off. After getting my locker for $6 ($4 for a small for $2 deposit), I went out in the Hurricane Bay got up to the bottom of my swimsuit and stopped. It was too damn cold. On the way back we passed the fairly long bar which was open for business. I didn't last long at Crocodile Cal's either. I did however check out both of the slides across the way next to Tornado (the blue slide rules). Then I went and did the fully enclosed speed slide, and went back to do the other one and they closed down for some reason. I don't think it was a pump problem. I saw some guy reading the pH, and I guess he didn't like what he was reading. Lastly, I went over to the multi-colored slides and rode the red and yellow slides, which are both quite long and have lots of twists and turns. It's nice that all the slides at Deerpark Plunge were open.

Unfortunately, Bahama Blast looks like it has a lot of plumbing work left to work on yet, as there were PVC pieces littered everywhere. We saw them test Buccaneer Beach again. Then I quickly got changed and the weather started to get nasty. It got very windy, thunder was heard overhead, and it started to rain pretty heavily. Pretty fitting for opening day of a Hurricane Harbour don't you think?

I like a lot of what they've done except for one stupid thing-a path that makes you walk around a shop to get to the locker rooms. It sounds stupid and petty, but you wait and watch how many people will take the direct route and ruin all the landscaping.

p.s. Sorry for the lack of ride names, I've got to go to work

I was expecting this. SFGAm media day, which was May 25, everything wasn't done. Skull Island play structure wasn't done yet, but is still being worked on. From what I hear it's still closed. Anything that was near Skull Island was closed. They don't want any guests getting hurt. SFGAm theming was nice, but it wasn't done also (palm trees, boats, etc.

Sorry to hear your day did go well as planned, but I wasn't surprised. Too bad you didn't take pics so I can see the Ultimate Makeover. O well, I'll be up there Memorial Day.

Most of the renovations have been posted already, except for Bucanner Beach and some of the other buildings and shops and the Hurricane Bay backdrop. One more thing we didn't see was the beach cabannas. I'm not sure if they still intend to build them, or if they were scrapped. There is a fairly sizeable plot of land in between Bahama Blast, Crocodile Cals, and the orange and blue slides, but I don't know what the intention is for it yet. Maybe they'll add another slide complex next year:)

Today was my first trip to this park and I must say I really enjoyed the Tornado.

Yup, I was there... about 50 pics... watch for the link later tonight...

One thing I must add is that I won't be riding any waterslides on Thursday unless I can enter the contest and win. You see Thursday is media day (yeah-Mr. Six is appearing!) and HH is closed off to the public. If you win, you have to agree to participate in all activities. God I hope that water gets warmer between now and Thursday.

50 pics, WOW!!! can u give us a preview!?.....no rush, I can wait!

Ok, heres my TR for today 5/28 I didn't want to start a whole new topic for one that's already talking about today.

Here's my 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 Hurricane 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 be 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 with 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-

P.S. the park was pretty empty untill 1 or 2, but still after that when we left at 5, they were barely even using the second lot! And also, this was my 4th trip to the park this year and all I can say is WHOA, the park has really gotten it's act together and is doing a wonderful job. Great Job SFA and all of SFI.

*** Edited 5/29/2005 2:51:48 AM UTC by Colin Fisher***

Be sure to check out my TR, COMPLETE WITH PICS, here:

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=41382&page=3