SFGAdv (7/4/06)
Associated parks:
None
So we paid the "insane" $15 parking fee and entered the park. We bought our tickets online to save $20 off admission and bypass the ticket lines. After entering the turnstile it was around 9:50 so we waited for the countdown by the fountain to run to El Toro.
As we got there, they had the line stopped at the entrance and the guard told us it would be open in about 1/2 hour... so we waited. After waiting nearly 1 hour, and watching a dozen test runs, it finally opened. I can now happily say I have a new favorite wood coaster. I thought Phoenix had extreme airtime, but El Toro had twice as much air and its fairly smooth (but not too smooth) and has great pacing. The series of banked turns at the end is perhaps my favorite section on any coaster anywhere. Great job with this coaster SF, but please don't ruin it! ;)
Our faces in the on-ride photo were great, so we forked out the $20 + tax for it. After finding that lockers were $8 to rent, I just walked it back out to the car since we were parked close to the entrance. By that time it was about 11:15 and we saw Superman was open (employees said it would be closed because it got struck by lightning). The line was huge so we went over to Batman. Wait time for Batman was around 45 mins, but its a great forceful inverted coaster! After that we paid $26 for pizza at Papa Johns and then headed to Nitro. To my surprise there was no line and we got in 3 quick rides. What a great ride... smooth, fast, long, lots of +Gs, and tons of air (especially in the back). We then went to ride Riptide, but it was closed even though boats were cycling through. So it was a quick spin on Skull Mountain and then we walked towards Superman and GASM.
Superman's wait was about 30 mins. But time went fast since we got to watch a fight in front of us. I'm not sure why, but some lady was punching a guy in the head. A few racial slurs later, the security was there and both were removed from the line. Superman was great, but it just seems like its done and over too soon. Then we got a ride on GASM and by then my mom felt sick so we relaxed on Spongebob 3D and then she did get sick on Houdini's Escape. After that the rain came and thunder came and shut all rides down for an hour. We shopped around until rides reopened, then got another flight on Superman. I wanted to ride Medusa, but we were all tired, and it was very muggy out, so we called it a day.
It was a great day other than Ka being closed, really long lines at some rides, and a $350 hole in my pocket! There was no maintenance working on Ka all day. I think SF purposely closes rides to get people to come back to ride them, and darnit they do a good job at it cause now I'll have to go back to ride Ka... Or I could just go to CP and ride Dragster instead (For half the price and aggravation it takes to visit SF)! All in all I still had a good time and I got to ride El Toro which definitely is the best wood coaster I've ever rode.
Thanks for reading,
-TWISTER
EDIT- PS: Anyone know if Ka was back open today? *** Edited 7/5/2006 10:04:04 PM UTC by T-W-I-S-T-E-R***
Arthur Bahl
I'm glad you had a good time though.
Here's To Shorter Lines & Longer Trip Reports!
we got to watch a fight in front of us. I'm not sure why, but some lady was punching a guy in the head. A few racial slurs later, the security was there and both were removed from the line.
Gee! I wonder why Shapiro wants to try and take the teenager out of Six Flags.
T-W-I-S-T-E-R said:
I'm not sure why, but some lady was punching a guy in the head. A few racial slurs later, the security was there and both were removed from the line.
Interesting.
Do you know approximately what time this occured?
Ajrides said:
Nice TR, I think you should just go to CP because TTD blows away KK IMO plus TTD is more likely to be open not to mention the rest of CP coasters
Arthur Bahl said:
Add to that the fact that CP is more reasonably priced than SFGAdv. Now if they would just add a new wooden coaster that rivals Voyage and El Toro.
Then add to it that CP is twice as far away than SFGAdv is to this guy and yeah...that makes plenty of sense. ;)
If DP were as big as CP, then SFGAdv would be a lot less busy as more people would go to the better run Cedar Fair park. Of course DP is not nearly as large nor does it have as many big coasters so SFGAdv remains the big draw that it is in spite of its faults.
Arthur Bahl
Jophish said:
Interesting.Do you know approximately what time this occured?
I think it was between 4 and 4:30
I was with four friends, waiting in line for SUF. We got in line at approx.* 3:22PM and around 3:30, a sizable group of young, black males tried to bypass the line. Two of my group simply was not going to let this happen, and the rest of us tried to stay out of it/capture photos. The group, though they were using foul language and being threatening, didnt seem to present a huge risk. However, as this confrontation went on for 5 minutes, another (unrelated) person also tried to cut the line. The person, black female, was trying to catch up to her boyfriend. Had this ruckus not already started, it may have been a different story, but she jumped right in and demanded passage. Not letting this happen, one of my friends found himself being used as a plow to part the line and push forward 15 yards or so. The woman than went on to hit him about five times, with no security in sight. Well, scratch that - they were in sight, all four of them, huddled up near the Lo-Q/Standby merge point. Eventually, the female rejoined her boyfriend (a big dude, mind you - we sure weren't going to mess with him, though he ended up being incredibly mind mannered) and the other group managed to get ahead of us.
After about 10 minutes, we got the attention of security, and pointed out the culprits, including my photographs in the identification. The female, her boyfriend, and a couple members of the aforementioned group were "intercepted" and removed from line. The males, however, were allowed to return to the ride, even with photographs of their position behind us. I guess logic isn't a requirement for hiring at SF G-Adv security. The female, who had physically assaulted my friend, was taken back to security to record a statement, and then allowed to return to the park. We too went to security under the assurance that she would be removed from the park if and only if we filled out a report, and to find out that she was walking around out there is just pitiful. so, for the rest of the day, my friend had the thoughts of a retaliatory attack in the back of his mind. Accompany that with the kind of thing we saw at SFOG, and its just rediculous.
Just some notes from this that I picked up:
- Management decided last offseason to remove the beach chair security stations. WTF? They surely have little to no upkeep costs and couldn't hurt! I mean, this is the kind of thing Shapiro wants to clean up, right?
- Security, like the parks themselves, are far to bureaucratic. It seemed like every person we talked to had to ask their supervisor if they can do this or that, or to find out what they should do. They really need better training and to be more assertive.
- Per the security department, it is PERFECTLY LEGAL to leave line and return without penalty. From now on, I am spotting the first person in line, and telling everyone that I am with them and need to catch back up. That is just absurd, especially since I am pretty sure signage in the park disputes the words of the security officer we talked to.
- Line cutting brings no punishment. We presented evidence that some people had skipped the line, and they were allowed to continue. Admittedly, at least one officer said it was a mistake in judgement.
- The security staff is full of people that I wouldn't see as being deterrents to bad behaviour (not to mention they seemed to easily be intimidated by a group of young, black males). When they don't have weapons or anything along those lines, they simply aren't going to discourage many of the park's clientelle from doing as they please.
- Mark Shapiro's ideals are great. However, they are not being executed well, and I'd imagine the middle mangament of the company (ie, heads of security in this case) are to blame.
Sorry for hijacking your thread. Just thought this may be what you saw...
* times derived from EXIF data I extracted from my photos
1 - They are young people
2 - They draw unnessecary attention to themselves
3- They are very confident due to thier numbers
4 - They tend to mock and make fun of those they are passing
5 - They NEVER are senior citizens, enthusiasts or toddler-carrying soccer moms.
6 - When caught, they NEVER admit fault
7 -They HATE Q-Bot people (if they can cut, so can we)
I once was on line (Q bot) for Medussa. This goes back a couple of years. You could see a group of EVIL-DOERS gnawing their way up the line. By the time I got to the Q-Bot enterance, the security folks, valiently tipped off by the ride-op at the control board, poured out like ants and encircled the wad of terror. As people were pointing and cheering the gangmembers was saying things like: "I'm gonna wait for you in the parking lot." I would not want to be the person that comment was directed to.
I have usually been careful on bumper cars, because if you bump the wrong person, he might take it the wrong way and things could get ugly.
I liked the idea of the (new in 2005) security shacks, but they seemed to be away from the line cutting areas where tempers have been known to flare up.
I have been more scared of security issues in parks than any ride I have ever faced.
Here's To Shorter Lines & Longer Trip Reports!
Yes, that was the incident I witnessed in line for SUF. That lady was quite insane, I could not believe when she began call your friends "white trash" and other racial remarks. It's a shame that it came to that, but I hope she gets some type of punishment for her actions.
I was about 10 people behind you in line with my mother and father. My mom is 50 and SUF is the only coaster at SFGAdv that she rides besides El Toro, which I actually talked her into by convincing her it was simply a "bigger and smoother Phoenix". <- Which it actually turned out to be!
SFGAdv's security was really out-to-lunch on Tuesday. I've never seen more people smoking in lines, cutting in lines, or heard that much foul language at an amusement park!
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