Beore I begin my report I would like to say that I rate rides 1-10, 5 being normal, and the higher the rating the better the ride.
I was so excited for this day and it finally came- I get to visit another amusement park outside of New England for the first time in like four years and I was really excited to finally get to go there. So after an hour of driving from our vacation cottage in LBI we arrived at the park. One thing that I noticed about the park is the exceptionally large waterpark that is right next to the park. Can a season pass get you in there? Anyway, after getting cut off a few times by New Jersey drivers we (being my family) arrived at the SFGadv parking lot and promptly parked by the Season Pass entrance. Right away I was impressed by Six Flags by putting an easier entrance for season pass holders to get into. Anyway once we entered the park we went on.......
Sombero- cool ride, tickled my stomach, but not too exciting I give it 6/10.
After Sombrero we walked around the park and noticed Viper was closed, so looking for a coaster to do we went on........
Runaway Train- Now this is a fun ride, not intense but fun and it didn't have a wait, the only thing this ride needs are larger trains and it would be even better but for now I give it 7/10.
So after getting our coaster fix we headed to the center of the park to Fantasy Forest and it's loud annoying music coming form the ice cream truck! Oh well, after finding out Evolution was closed, we rode.....
Black Beard's Treasure Train- Fun short, kiddie coaster and nothing more. 5/10.
After riding the Treasure Train we finally did a coaster that I was anitcipating and that was......
Skull Mountain- Now this coaster is cool, I loved how the line was indoors with black lighting, and the ride itself was tons of fun. This coaster was also running to a great capacity and we only waited about five minutes for this ride. I just love coasters in the dark and the first drop was really fun and so was the rest of the ride. 7.5/10
After a nice ride on the Mountain my family decided to ride the......
Bucanneer- standard swinging ship ride, nothing more, nothing less 5/10.
So after a nice flat ride we went to the old country part of the park to do... yes you got it! more flat rides and they were....
Musik Express- I'm so angry SFNE removed theres a while ago cause these things are fun 7/10
Pendulum- I didn't like this one as much as the one at SFNE because it relied a lot more on spinning and a lot less on rocking, thus not giving the really cool weighless, and tummy tickling sensation these rides can give. 6/10.
Ok, by now I had had it with flat rides and desperately wanted to do a coaster at this coaster rich park but first we had to have lunch so we decided to eat at the Wok and Roll next to Skull Mountain. The food here was very good and not as expensive as I thought it would be. Anyway, enough about food and more about coasters. After eating we finally went on a big coaster and that coaster was.....
Nitro- Wow, is this ride a capacity machine, the line was completely full and we waited less than 45 minutes to get on this ride. It also helped that Six Flags was running three trains. Anyway this ride was great. However, I don't think it's as good as Supmerman Ride of Steel for a few reasons. One is that the stupid lap bars don't give you the same nice airtime that Superman does, two there are no tunnels, three the first drop isn't nearly as intense as Supermans, and finally the ride was a little shakier than Superman's silky smooth ride. But this ride had two nice advantages over Superman, one was the capacity and the comfy trains- not lapbars, and the other was that the directional changes on B&M's are so much more fun than others coasters, but thid did not give enough positives to overcome Superman 9/10.
ok this is taking a long time so now on I'll just name rides I rode and tell about them and save comments for later...
Batman the Ride- this line took a long time! it's deceving how long this line is... anyway we waited an hour for this ride and I felt that it was well worth it. This Coaster is so much smoother and better than SFNE's Mind Eraser. this ride packed so much intensity that after the wicked first drop (I sat in the back right) and first three inversion I didn't know where I was. However, I do remember that this ride was great and I especially like the intense corscrews which really whip you around if you're sitting on the side of the car. 9/10
Batman and Robin the Chiller- rode the Batman side and this is definitely my FAVORITE ride in the park. the line wasn't too bad at about 50 minutes, and it was worth every second of waiting time. the launch on this ride is the most intense thing I have EVER experienced in my life. and the inversion are disorientating at the least and are wicked intense. this thing is an intensity machine and the headrests are padded like boxing gloves so even though you hit your head a lot it really doesn't hurt. 9.5/10
GASM- Great Arrow Mega looper, my first ever and hopefully not my last. The line was really short and the first three loops on this ride were very intense, however my favorite part of this ride is the hill into the brake run which give awesome air time. there is a little jolting around on this ride but it's not that bad. 8/10
Turbo Force- Worth the 8 bucks, reminded me of the Zipper at a much higher scale. And rocking at the top is extremely scary. 9.5/10
Sling shot- Now this thing is INTENSE, I always wanted to do one of these and I finally had the chance. This ride gave me the willies and I really can't describe the experience too well. It was over very quickly but what an experience it was. 10/10
Centrifuge G-Force- Best scrambler I've ever been on 7.5/10
Jumpin Jack Flash- Wow! how come there aren't more of these? this thing spins so fast and in so many directions you really can't tell where you are if you tried. Also the bouncing action was really cool too. I think SFGadv stole this ride from NASA headquarters. 9/10
Rolling thunder- Worst wooden coaster I have ever been on and I rode the left side. Anyway this ride provided no airtime and was a boring standard up and down coaster. It also loses points for the horrible screeching noise it makes while performing turns. Tear this down or fix it up but I can't stand to watch this thing suffer. 3/10
Medusa- What.... a..... ride. Did I mention that I LOVE B&M's? This ride is silky smooth and the inversions and directional changes are so much fun. And I did not find this ride forceless at all. The zero g-roll delivered possibly the coolest experience I have ever experienced on a looping coaster. This coaster also had the most enjoyable cobra roll I've ever experienced along with awesome whipping action of the corkscrews from the sides made this an unforgettable ride. 9.5/10
Anyway, I had a great time at SFGadv. The operations at this park are outstanding- every coaster was running to maximum capacity and even though the crowds were huge, the lines weren't. The one thing that surprised me about this park is how much smaller it was area wise than I thought it would be. It only seemed about 20-30% bigger than SFNE (including waterpark). But anyway this park had great capacity, five world class coasters (GASM, Medusa, Chiller, BTR, and Nitro), and has an awesome selection of flat rides that are run really well. Color me impressed. the overall park gets a 9/10 from me.
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sigh, SFNE goes "tiny" for 2001
Glad to hear that you had a great time. Now I'm really looking forward to my upcoming trip.
I was there on the 14th too. Did you happen to have a Lightning Racer or Shivering Timbers shirt on that day?
no, sorry but I don't like to wear coaster shirts. I had a blue shirt and was with my family. I did meet one family from Suffield Ct though that liked coasters but that was it.
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sigh, SFNE goes "tiny" for 2001
I'm really glad you had a great time at SFGAdv. It seems my home park usually gets bad press unfairly. You truly saw what SFGAdv. is usually like.
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Hurricane Harbour isn't included in the admission, and it is also pretty pricey. But you can get a combination themepark/waterpark ticket. I agree there should be more Jumping Jack Flash's (Huss Jump), but the ride has had it's share of mechanical problems which has probably scared them off from buying more. By the way, did you notice it's a carnival ride? If liked Chiller's launch, you should definitely get to PKD and ride Volcano the Blast Coaster and Hypersonic XLC.
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Batwing-Bow Down
If anyone is planning a trip its a great park but unless you are going in October Robin will be closed and Viper will be closed the rest of the season to open next year with new trains.
Regarding Nitro, Spin said:
"the ride was a little shakier than Superman's silky smooth ride" A shaky B&M? Nah it must have all been in your head :)
Regarding Medusa, Spin said: "I did not find this ride forceless at all. The zero g-roll delivered possibly the coolest experience I have ever experienced on a looping coaster. This coaster also had the most enjoyable cobra roll I've ever experienced along with awesome whipping action of the corkscrews from the sides made this an unforgettable ride."
Just wait until you have a chance to ride KUMBA!
Anyway, I too was VERY impressed with SFGAdv. It's a great park that few people speak highly of, and I dont know why that is...
jeremy
--who actually heard someone, sitting in the 2nd to last row of S:ROS @ SFA, say they were "disappointed by the first drop"...
Yeah well I found Nitro to be a little bumpy in some parts, but nothing huge. Anyway, I just thought Superman was just more fun overall although Nitro is still a very good roller coaster and almost the perfect coaster for this park. I would also love to ride Kumba but alas I never had the chance but I'm going to SFWoA this Sunday so I'll ride BKF and other really cool coasters and to unpopular opinion will buy a fastpass for ten dollars cause this will be my only time at this park.
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sigh, SFNE goes "tiny" for 2001
Well i agree ,Medusa was a GREAT RIDE, IT BLEW ME AWAY. great inversions and high intensity, i loved it, infact it was i moved to #2 on my list just under goliath. But to me nitro was a dissapointment ,did not have the speed or intensity Goliath has, i mean it was good but not great like medusa. As for calling great adventure mother of SF parks thats ludacris. i mean the park is hard to get around , it took me for ever to find medusa. As far as im conserned magic mountain the mother of sf parks. It has the highest attendance and the most coasters.
yeah but SFMM runs all year round while SFGadv does not. I think I read that SFGadv may have the highest seasonal attendance out of all amusement parks and SFGadv has more overall rides- over 70 in all and that's not counting the waterpark which is also really big. I just called it the mother of all SF parks because I was so impressed by it. It's pretty much opinion as to which SF park you think is best and some people absolutely hate them. Also, I thought SFGadv had a lot going for it, including multiple shows including a really cool fireworks show that happens every night. This park to me just wasn't about the roller coasters- it was about the sheer number and variety of rides, many that you can't find anywhere else. Also, I thought the quality of coasters that this park has is really good and it offers some very unique riding experiences too, but then so does SFMM and many other parks.
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sigh, SFNE goes "tiny" for 2001
