SFA Help
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Sean
I have never been but this is your best bet.
Also, eat at a Buffet if they have one, SFMW is 10.99 for food and drink!
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See THE ULTIMATE in Orlando TR'S! Right now in the TR fourm!
Even if the park is "Jam packed to the rafters" (TM Harry Carey RIP) this will get you to the major stuff at least once. What you choose to re-ride is up to you!
lata,
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Country Music? Wild West? Choose to re-ride? C'mon jeremy, you're killing me here....;). Seriously, I have no choice what to re-ride....two fantastic wooden coasters and one truly AWESOME steel coaster.....
The other steel one of note is the best of its breed: Flying coasters, but it can not stand up to the Ride of Steel....night-time, front row, religious experience....
Since you are going on a Sunday, if you are in the park by 11:00 you can probably still catch Superman with a relatively short wait, but skip Batwing. Do Joker's Jinx. Try to be at Typhoon Seacoaster when it opens (around 12:00, but can be earlier) or else it will have a really bad line. The front right side of the park (South West Territory) has two low capacity rides in Tower of Doom and Two Face, along with a moderate wait for Wild One. Try to do that side before the left side (Coyote Creek) where Mind Eraser and Roar will both be short waits.
While you do not need fastlane (5 rides for $10, any time, any ride) to experience all the rides, you may want it to maximize you rides on Superman and Batwing.
I think all the coasters are back seat rides except Batwing and Joker's Jinx, but the foot choppers on Mind Eraser and the view on Superman up front are preferred by many. Do not compare the park to Great Adventure or any other park the whole time!
Try the Roto-shake (Iron Eagle) if it is open. It is one of the few flat rides that SFA has and SF Gadv does not.
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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes MCS Please, Feel Free To Call Me Jes!
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure 2002 Ride-Ops Crew (Have Fun Trying To Find Me!)
It's not so much as filling up boats on typhoon seacoaster it's more about using all available boats on the ride to begin with.
On my last SFA visit the park had 9 of the boats sitting behind the ride in the service area between Wild one & Joker's jinx,also on my last visit Iron eagle was running but it sure was making a hell of a lot of noise about half way through the ride cycle.
2Hostyl gave you a good game plan (and Coyote Creek is definitely the best place to eat IMO, but don't expect much...it's still not that good). But to answer your other questions, S:RoS has gotten the second train working again, but the wait times will depend on the crowd, how many line-jumpers get by, and how slow the ride-ops are on that day...typically a 15-20 minute wait is pretty common, with the front row being longer obviously.
Batwing has two stations that both "work". Will they have both stations running?!?! That's a whole different question that no one can answer because they have no rhyme or reason to how they run that thing (If there is a reasoning for why they run it the way that they do, I have yet to figure it out). I have been there on extremely busy Saturdays where they don't open station 2 until the line is an hour and a half long, then they close it early evening. IMO, it seems as though they want long lines on this ride...not sure why...maybe it just costs way too much to open the second station, so they don't open it until the lines are ridiculously long, then close it when the lines get short. Anyway, the lines are almost always over an hour long...if you do get fastlane, use it here.
Typhoon Seacoaster is also a must do, but as noted by others, the lines can get really long due to horrible ride operations/operators. Try to get to it as soon as it opens...it is supposed to open at noon, but that doesn't always happen, so keep an eye on this ride if possible.
Also, IMO, Jokers Jinx is only decent as a night ride, so you may want to hold off until night time....but that's JMO, I know a lot of people love that ride, so I am in the minority.
Happy Coastering!
Sean
--who may also be there on Sunday...still deciding between SFA and HP--
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
S:ROS is definitely the best ride at SFA. Take a front and a back seat ride. Both are fantastic.
Wild One is a very good out-and-back woodie with some psuedo-decent airtime, and the end helix is bliss--great laterals.
Joker's Jinx has improved by leaps and bounds since the OTSRs have been removed. I refuse to ride anywhere but in the front.
Batwing is a great one- or two-time ride, unless the lines are short (ha!) or you have fastlane. I like it a lot, but the novelty wears off rather quickly, and the wait times are often insufferable.
Roar is a fast-paced twister that never gives a bad ride. Decent airtime in the back.
Mind Eraser is a typical SLC that seems to get jerkier (is that a word?) every year. Still fun, though. I also refuse to ride this (and all other inverts) anywhere but in the front car.
Two-Face is good to ride once. I think I prefer standard boomerangs. Not sure why.
Tower of Doom is 0.3 seconds of fun.
If you don't happen to get on Typhoon Sea Coaster, don't sweat it. You're not missing much. At all.
Iron Eagle is painful. I rode it once, three years ago. That was enough. I'm not a flat-ride kinda guy, though.
And there you have it. Don't stress about lines (except for Batwing) because the park is never overly crowded. My theory is that people recognize that the atmosphere and overall feel of the park sucks. There's nothing charming about it, the landscaping is practically non-existent, the layout is about as well-thought-out as a Jackson Pollack painting, and the general employee attitude is sour. The only redeeming factors about SFA are the cheap cost of season passes (especially when you plan to hit other SF parks), and the handful of good coasters.
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-Vater
Coaster Count: 104
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I usually do not expect a very objective opinion if a coaster or park is part of the "user name"
Forget opinionated about the rides, how about the park vater! I agree with you about the landscaping and layout, but rarely fine a rude employee despite others consistently finding them, espescially this year (this coming from someone who has been to BGW and Orlando several times this year). Maybe not smiling, but not rude. Maybe I just do not notice though...
IMO, Mind Eraser is much smoother in the back. It is still rough, and it has good days and bad days, but try it. I am not a huge Iron Eagle or Seacoaster fan, but I think new SFA visitors should try both. If you are into slap stick comedy, watch the Western stunt show. This year Roar is running better, but last year I had some rides missing airtime and rougher than normal.
*** This post was edited by SFA rules on 7/24/2002. ***
I am going down there on Sunday, August 11th and am looking forward to riding my old favorite Paragon Park coaster among others. I'm taking my SFNE season pass and $20 bucks for 10 "fast lane" passes for Batwing and Superman.
My question is how does this work? Do you enter on a "fast lane" (how stupid does that sound) through the exit or join the line at the station or some other messed up system? I'm sure it will be chaos, what is the preferable move?
JDB, honestly 5 or even 0 passes should be plenty for yourself if you get there at opening and stay until night, but it is your call. At SFA, Fastlaners walk up the exit ramps and get on with a 0-1 train wait (though if you catch Superman at the wrong time there will be a 5 train Fastland wait). The exception is Batwing, where Fastlaners walk up the handicap ramp to station one (0-1 train wait). Fastlane is relatively well run at SFA (compared to SFGadv last year).
BTW, Wild One is nothing like the old one at Paragon Park, as it has been retracked a few times and has a different course layout.
Jokers Jinx has been running great this year as has Roar. I've only been there twice (both weekdays in June) this season and almost everything was a walk on. SROS had both trains running and batwing opened the second station around 1:00PM. (once the other side had over 1 hour wait) Therefore, try to hit BW right when it opens. Check out the typhoon sea coaster primarily because it is a very fun well themed ride. I wish Six Flags put this much effort into all of their theming. Overall, the employees were ok, the park was clean, the landscaping was GREAT and every ride but 1 flat ride (octupus) were open. Dare I say, this park almost has "themed" sections? It wasn't bad really.
I would do Mind Eraser and Two Face towards the end of your visit because they do seem to give everybody a headache. Also try to stay in the front or back. This is by far the worst (but coolest looking) SLC I've ever been on. I've heard it was better in years past. I would take Great NorEaster any day over Mind Eraser.
Longest wait of the day....Going through the gates. Many guests seem to pack as though they will be camping out for the weekend in the park. This can cause really bad delays while you wait for security to go through everything. They also do NOT have seperate season pass gates. Season Pass holders must wait in the same lines as regular ticket holders:( That was my only disapointment with SFA. Have Fun:)
SFA rules said:
but rarely fine a rude employee despite others consistently finding them, espescially this year
I won't go into all of my experiences, but to give an idea of the rude employee's, I just say that no one should tolerate a ride op encouraging his friends to line-jump.
Happy Coastering!
Sean
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"Have fun stormin' the castle!"
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-Vater
Coaster Count: 104
Wild one re-tracked? it's more like Wild one has been butchered if you ask me.
It's just not the same ride it once was any more,first the drop off the lift was shortened by 9 feet about a decade ago then in 99 when SF took over it was reprofiled again not to mention the section before the turn around being flattened so it now only has 2 drops total on the first leg of the ride and finally the turn around itself has been changed it used to be a diving turn to the right,now it's just a long flat slow turn.
About the only positve gain for the layout is the addition of a double up section just before the turn as well as that great new station sign.
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