SFA-6-8-02- Batwing at it's finest

Once again the time has come for another trip to SFA.Upon our arrival at the park at around 11 am we were greeted by a long wait in line just to enter the park,once inside we made our way back to gotham city and made a reservation for a 2pm ride on skycoaster.Having gotten that out of the way we proceeded to S:ROS and were faced with a moderate wait for the middle of the train.While ascending the lift we look towards the joker and see that the purple train is now on the storage track and should soon be ready to run,lines for JJ stretched clear outside the que so we didn't bother riding it at all.After a great airtime filled ride aboard S:ROS we next made our way over to Batwing where we got the surprise of a lifetime Batwing was running 2 trains and both yes both stations!So we got in line and this time opted for the station closest to S:ROS and were on in about 5 minutes or so and finally got to see the switch track in action,it's rather neat to see this sort of operation I thought the entire track rotates but only the small portion at the junction between the 2 s curves does instead.We dicide to take advantage of the multi train/station operation and ride again,this tiime however when approaching the final turn into the station we ended up stuck about halfway through the turn while the other train was stuck on the lift,after about a 10 minute wait in the hot sun they finally got us back in the station.By this time it was getting rather hot so we headed over to skull island to take a ride on typhoon sea coaster before the line got too long.After about a 15-20 minute wait we were finally on board,whoever said that the theming was working was surely mistaken because it wasn't during our ride still it was a great way to cool off from the hot sun of the early afternoon.After a quick ride aboard high seas it was time for a quick lunch break over at hollywood cafe where we set about planning the afternoon ride agenda.By this time we were dying to hit some wood so wild one was the ride of choice after about a 30 to 45 minute wait for the middle of the train we were off and had a great airtime filled ride.It was approaching 2 pm so we headed back to gotham for our skycoaster flight afterwards it was off to S:ROS again only to find that it was down due to technical problems so we headed back over to Batwing again this time to find only one station and train operating.While waiting in line however the ride broke down a few times and then they finally began testing the other train ,so much to our surprise the 2nd station re opened in time for us to get over there.Next up it was time for some more wood,this time it was roar and boy was this ride packed.The lines for roar were probably the longest I've seen since 98 when it first opened so after a 30 minute wait for the front we were treated to yet another great ride.It was approaching 4 pm so we headed on back to coyote creek and mind eraser,once again long lines were the order of the day and it seemed that one guest in line couldn't wait long enough to relieve himself so he decided to use the railing in the que as his personal restroom,it was really disgusting and of course against park regulations.coupling in that and a few line jumpers made for a rather uncomforting 1.5 hour wait in line.By this time it was time to take a dinner break and take advantage of the water cannons over by renegade rapids,it was a lot of fun shooting water at unsuspecting riders as they departed the loading station.After dinner it was time to hit some flat rides,first up iron eagle which broke down on us after one cycle so we decided not to wait for it to re open and headed for flying carousel instead.Seeing that S:ROS was now open again we headed straight for it and had the worst encounter of the day,while waiting in line we had to deal with several line jumpers not to mention the ride ops letting an entire trainload of fastlaners on the ride,this is just one more reason why this fastlane nonesense has got to go we were so infuriated with this that we took it straight to guest relations at the end of the night and will be sending a formal complaint to management(that's about all they will let you do in this type of situation)so they gave us a complaint form to fill out and mail in.It was approaching closeing time so we decided to get in a few laps on wild one ,first up a ride in car 1/row three,the airtiime in this seat was rather enormous(I can see why most call it the ejector seat) however as with time honored trasdition the last ride of the night was in the front seat,the ride certainly was running faster during the late afternoon/early evening and as a result was full of airtime especially on the return trip.

Now on to the ride ratings for this trip.

S:ROS - 2laps: good airtime and speed but terrible wait times and operations, my rating: 6/10

Batwing -3 laps: great operations thanks to full use of both stations and trains,a bit rough through the inline rolls but still fun,my rating: 9/10

wild one-3 laps:moderate wait times but still an overall great ride full of speed and airtime,my rating:9/10

roar-1 lap: long lines but fast loading made for a fairly good rie this time around: my rating: 8/10

mind eraser: -1 lap: long lines coupled with line jumpers made for only a moderately good ride experience,my rating : 5/10

All in all this wasn't a bad day at SFA although it could've been better.Maybe things will improve by june 29th which is my next scheduled trip out to SFA.

Nice to hear the Batwing's up to capacity. This is a really good ride. The way the switch track works is pretty clever, too.

I was there yesterday and my day was just horrible. I was going to post a trip report, but there isn't any point when it would just be me complaining. They have the rudest staff work the rides. The place is so dirty that you wonder why they have so many sweeps walking around and nothing is clean. I went to the waterpark, and the water in the Lazy river was so disgusting that I thought I was going to come out of there with a skin disease. Superman broke down every time I tried to get in line for it(including a 2 hour wait.)

The best part of my day was spent in Crocodile Cal's Outback Beach House playing with my son, and that we got a front seat ride on Batwing at the end of the night. SFA is easily the most disgusting six flags park I have been to. When I visited last fall with the waterpark closed my experience was so much better. It was really crowded, and I would never go there again on a weekend. Anyone that is thinking about going don't do it. Go in the middle of the week, and stay out that Lazy River Cesspool. ;)

Why is it that people on the good green earth choose to use such things as handrails in queue lines to pee? It is sick, and I do not want to see that kind of thing all over. Too many people do not understand the concept of a BATHROOM! On camping trips or other such where there is NO restroom around, I can understand it. But that is a theme park for heaven's sake....

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X Looks Awesome! Oh Yea!!
Questions:
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Aaaaaaaaaa. Please paragraphs. Nice Trip Report though.

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-Sean Newman
83 coasters and soon to be more
Life is a roller coaster Ride It!

I couldn't agree with you more Saxplayer,I was gonna add that little incident to my complaint to park management but after the situation over at S:ROS with the line jumping and fastlaners I totally forgot about the "bathroom incident over at mind eraser and the main reason why the park was so crowded yesterday was due to a special event that the park had scheduled for that date but it usually isn't that crowded on a saturday on average.