SFA Opening Day!

Six Flags America Opening Day
Weather: Rain, Wet, Windy and Cold

I arrived at the park about 10:00. Just in time to hear the PA Announcements for the first time this season. There was probably a crowd of about 20-30 people standing at the front gates waiting, in the rain, to get in. Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Bugs Bunny and Marvin The Martian arrive a few minutes later and begin interacting with the guests. A couple of the "streetmosphere" cast show up and begin handing out maps to the guests waiting in line. At about 10:20 the gates were opened and we were let in. The Looney Tunes characters took positions in front of each of the stores, waiting to give anyone a hug that wanted it. I dangled around for five minutes or so before heading back to the Grand Theater.

When I arrived at the Grand Theater, the Star Spangled Banner was played, then you heard the Let's Get Ready to Rumble and the countdown to park opening began. It's Partytime begins to play and the rides in the suddenly turn on. Except, one thing, no one was availble to flip the big switch to the on position.

At this point, it was raining pretty hard outside. I walked back to Gotham City and decided to skip riding any coasters until the rain quit. Instead, I decided to start with Batwing and make my way back to the front of the park and look for the changes.

At Batwing, I noticed the landscaping had been pruned back some. Batwing was running, one train, but despite the rainy, cold weather, everytime I walked back there (I think I made it back there twice) it continue to run. The other train hasn't been put on the circuit yet. However, the mere fact this coaster was running one train consistently was a good sign.

I headed back up towards Superman. First, I noitced the DC Comics store either received a good hosing down or really good paint job. You will need sun glasses to look at the freshly painted Superman logo. Superman's operation, one train. The second train isn't on the transfer track.

Moving forward, Krpton Comet, out of there. Alpine Bobs has been relocated to this spot. However, it was still boarded up and not quite ready for use.

Penguin's Blizzard River was open, they even had the umbrellas up over the queue and the misters were on. However, Blizzard Blast #2 was off. Not that you really need it.

Joker's Jinx was running, two trains. Eventually they pulled one train off. Probably a good idea. The crowd was extremely light and there was no since in making people wait in the rain on the brake run if it wasn't necessary. Also, the park has fixed the problem with the standing water in the station by adding some drains. They also removed one or two rows of the queue. YES!

As I left, Joker's Jinx, I walked by Sky Coaster and noticed it seemed like there was a price drop to $15 for single riders. Anyone know if this is correct? Also, the massage chairs and plasma tv's are gone. I guess this was an experiment we all know was going to fail. The ride attendant was having a blast (no pun intended) with the guests. At one point he stood up and said "Wait a minute, something is wrong with this thing" (jokingly). Surprise, you were gone in less than second. On the return, he asked if everyone enjoyed the ride and everyone cheered. Joker's Jinx appears to be running better than ever and yes, it was open.

Walking by the Batman Stunt Show arena gone are the big banners advertising upgrading your season pass. The outside of the arena now looks very bare. I hope they are planning on painting a mural or something on the outside soon. Perhaps put some big Batman logos up. This is where I found Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin and The Flash waiting for a picture.

Heading out of Gotham City, I decided to head over to Southwest Territory. Yes, Sonora Speedway is still an upcharge attraction, In fact it's $6 for a single rider and $8 for a double rider. Wild One looks the same, running two trains and I don't think they were cycling the trains. One thing I did notice as I walked back through the games midway in Southwest Territory is how courteous the game attendants were. One asked "Would you like to play my game?". It scared me for a second. It wasn't "Hey you with the umbrella, come over here and play this game". Even one attendant was flirtatious.

After leaving Southwest Territory, I walked around Looney Tunes Movie Towne, outside of a few people ride The Great Chase no one was there except employees. I did notice the Loone y Tunes theme song was playing on the carousel. Is that new?

One of the newest additions to the park are electric cars on The Great Race. They are still Antique Cars, including a fire truck. They run pretty smoothly and include a safety feature that keeps a eight foot barrier between you and the person in front of you. They also reversed the course so you go clockwise around it instead of counter clockwise. The new cars seem like your driving a golf cart.

After I finished with Looney Tunes Movie Towne and Nantucket, I decided to see what was up over in Coyote Creek. I then encountered a guy banging buckets in front of the Grand Theater. He was pretty good. He wasn't the only musical performes in the park today, there was a jam band playing in the table area next to Lucky Albatross. Streetmosphere has reached Six Flags America.

After I watched the guy banging on buckets, I headed to Southwest Territory. Two train operation on Mind Eraser, Renegade Rapids was open and so was Rodeo. I ate lunch at the The Crazy Horse Saloon (BBQ Sandwich, Curly Fries and BBQ Baked Beans) and sat down to watch Magic Quest, the new magic show that has replaced the Country Music Show. It was a pretty decent magic show, I'm still trying to figure out the final act.

Heading out of Coyote Creek, I headed to Skull Island. Two Train operation on Roar. TSC has boats on it, the flume had water in it, but didn't run. They had a couple of signs outside of the ride to add to the themeing. Heading back over towards Gotham City, I began to question whether or not the concrete was replaced in Skull Island. Upon closer examination, I determined it was just extremely clean once I saw a few gum stains. As I left Skull Island, I saw what was left of Iron Eagle. Nothing more than a couple of concrete pads.

Overall the park was clean, there was plenty of staff for the crowd, they kept the park open despite the weather, there were plenty of Looney Tunes and they were just about every where you turned.

The majority of changes to the park were cosmetic in nature. More trash cans, better signage, paint, screens to keep spare change from hitting you on the head. Things of that nature. There were definetly more street sweepers in the park today and I did encounter several bathroom attendants in the bathroom. It feels like there were more staff in the park today, but it's hard to tell since everyone was scattered trying to keep dry and warm.

Surprises, Ben and Jerry's is gone and so is Paradie Junction Ice Cream (look for Bugs Bunny's Carrothead Carrol to open soon). Having one train on Superman and Batwing is a major disappointment. The price of a "Super Slice" of Papa John's pizza is $6.49. It's hard to tell what exactly constitutes a Super Slice so you might want to ask to see one before you buy it.

That about covers it. I'll report on the condition of the rides tomorrow after I ride them tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

I was going to go and process my pass, but I didn't feel like dealing with the rain today. I normally always attend opening day, but I figure next week will work.

Its good to hear that most everything was running at least one train. Thats better then last year when Superman took a few test laps, but no riders that I could see. Batwing broke down and stayed down the rest of the day, but I got a lap on it before it broke down.

I am hoping that things head in the right direction. I want to see Six Flags succeed.

Sounds like everything is going over good. I'm looking forward to reading about the rides tomorrow.

Also, 2 weekends from now is that Cheerleader weekend ( I believe the 22 maybe). Is it busy for ride lines then? Does anyone know that has been there during that weekend before? Thanks a lot!

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coasterguts said:
As I left Skull Island, I saw what was left of Iron Eagle.

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Wait, so is Iron Eagle going also?

Well, I got the season pass card at Safeway tonight, so I may make it down there tommorow. I like some of the changes I saw in the pictures. Thank goodness they got rid of Iron Eagle, one of the worst pieces of flat rides ever made. It's highly unusual for me to want to see a flat ride gone, but man did that thing breakdown on a constant basis.
I can't say that I'm sad to see Krypton Comet gone either, as it was a royal pain in the butt as well, but I did have a lot of great rides on it.

This makes me wonder why the heck we didn't get any of the extra flat rides from Six Flags Astro World. Now that both Iron Eagle and Krypton Comet are gone we have almost no flat rides. Bobsleds, eh an ok ride, but dosn;t really deliver a thrill. Drop of Doom, its only 150 feet. Hmm what else, Rodeo, still just an OK ride.

SFA has NO thrill rides that stand out. And now, we have no thrill rides that Invert that I can think of. Someone PLEASE correct me If I'm wrong.

Honestly SFA get some flats.

Colin (Yes, I'm complaing like most SFA fans) Fisher

*** Edited 4/9/2006 2:58:32 AM UTC by Colin Fisher***

HEY! Rodeo is awesome! They have an enterprise, right? Drop of Doom is fun. That octopuss flat is really fun.

They could use a few more flats, like any park, but what they have is fun.

Weird, I am defending SF.

"One of the newest additions to the park are electric cars on The Great Race. They are still Antique Cars, including a fire truck. They run pretty smoothly and include a safety feature that keeps a eight foot barrier between you and the person in front of you. They also reversed the course so you go clockwise around it instead of counter clockwise. The new cars seem like your driving a golf cart."

Were are they located in the park?

The Great Race is between the carousel and Heritage House Food Court, just outside Looney Toons Movie Towne.

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dexter said:
HEY! Rodeo is awesome! They have an enterprise, right? Drop of Doom is fun. That octopuss flat is really fun.

They could use a few more flats, like any park, but what they have is fun.

Weird, I am defending SF.

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The entireprise was gone a longggggg time ago.

Have they finally removed enterprise from the park entirely? it certainly is/was an eyesore walking down the midway & seeing the big & IMO ugly fence surrounding the ride area for years on end.

Does anyone know if its busy during the cheerleading competition at the park? It is in 2 weekends. I just want to know about coaster lines and such. Just wondering. Thankss!

^I plan on going on the 22nd as well so perhaps I'll see you there.

I've been there when they've held the cheerleading event before & it hasn't been too crowded in years past,the actual competition is usually held on the midway just in front of skycoaster next to the stuntshow entrance.

As for the coasters it simply depends on capacity<number of trains being in service> & the overall crowds,not to mention the staff running the rides.

Ok, I didn't know if like because of this event the coaster lines are crazyy.

The main coasters we do when we are there are Supes, Batwing, and Wildone. Wild One is a pretty sweet ride, and Supes and Batwing just rock. :) I have to try and get my cuz on JJ, she's afraid to go on because it goes upside down, but doesn't have OTSR's. This coming from a girl who's been on MF and TTD. ;) Lol

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coasterniece said:
Does anyone know if its busy during the cheerleading competition at the park? It is in 2 weekends. I just want to know about coaster lines and such. Just wondering. Thankss!

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I went last year during the Compitition, it was packed. I dunno bout batwing fan, but when I went, JJ had a full line, and Supes was almost full. Batwing was full of course, with one train.

It was the most crowded I've ever seen the park.

I just got back from the park.

First, The Enterprise is still very much in tack.

Second, the park is heading the right direction. The entertainment side is really kicking but this year. I sat through two shows of Shanghai Cowboy and thought both were near perfection. The sound was great. The Magic Show is pretty good. Streetmosphere was well done and if you can stay for the parade it's nice and short.

Third, Coasterlover and I were able to determine that SFA has the trains for Astroworld's trains. You can see them in this picture:

http://sfafans.com/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=310&album=41&pos=10

Had a great time at the park today, hope all of you can get out there soon.

I was at SFA today, a nice day at the park. I've never been to SFA before, and I have to admit, I think this is like PKD for me, in that I don't want to go back unless Ultra Twister is erected next year (and even then, I'll just ride it and Roar a few times). We didn't see any shows, and even flat rides (well, we did two cycles on the non-tilty Tilt-a-Whirl). Did get all the credits, though.

I went with Kevin, Tim, and Dennis, and we took a few pictures and over an hour of video, so once I edit it in iMovie, I'll post the results online.

Coasterguts. I like the new website you have there. Hopefully we can all add to it.

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Colin Fisher said:

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coasterniece said:
Does anyone know if its busy during the cheerleading competition at the park? It is in 2 weekends. I just want to know about coaster lines and such. Just wondering. Thankss!

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I went last year during the Compitition, it was packed. I dunno bout batwing fan, but when I went, JJ had a full line, and Supes was almost full. Batwing was full of course, with one train.

It was the most crowded I've ever seen the park.

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About the worst crowds I've seen in the park during a special event was for the annual praise in the park event.After experiencing that I make it a point to try to avoid the park if at all possible during that particular event as those church groups can sure get huge.

Last year the cheerleading event wasn't all that crowded...aside from the congestion at the entrance to GC the rest of the park seemed pretty much the same as always in terms of crowds.

I'm finished with my movie of SFA from earlier today. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

http://photos.tideblue.com/ryan/sfa_apr06.zip

By the way, I'm the one behind the camera, so I'm actually not in it at all. My friends Kevin ("red shirt guy"/Kingda Kevin), Tim ("hat guy"/dannerman), and Dennis ("Other Guy in the Movie") are mostly featured. Also, you'll note I did not take very many coaster shots... I wasn't planning on making this park visit into a video, and I totally skipped taking video of SRoS. My bad... My next video will be better-planned. Also, stick around at the end for some nice Tilt-a-Whirl comments.

Edit: fixed link *** Edited 4/10/2006 3:17:33 AM UTC by Arson***