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Here starts the daily operations at SFGAm and it showed up with miserable weather.
Got to the park about 10:15. I needed to purchase a pass this visit so I had my buddy wait in the insane lines to get through the metal detectors while I purchased my pass. As soon as we got through the gates the heavens started to open up and it did not stop the whole time we were there.
First stop was Shockwave. We entered the station and headed for the back. As soon as we got to the airgates, the ride-op comes over the loud speaker and announces the ride is temporarily down. He wouldnt say what was wrong but the other ride-op let us know that there was a blood spot on the OTSR of the front car. He said they had to call an EMT to come to the ride and sanitize the area. The whole process took about 10 minutes and finally we boarded. I still find this ride intense and fun. One advantage of being tall is the non-factor of headbanging.
As soon as we exited Shockwave, the rain got a little heavier. The temperatures were still mild at this time (about 65) but that would change later on. We headed over to V2 to find a line that was only down the end of the stairs leading to the station. Wait time was about 15 minutes. My buddy that was with me had never been on V2 so we decided to do the backseat for the full backspike experience. We did one lap and that was enough for my friend. He liked it but didnt think it was anything special. Oh well, different strokes I guess.
After V2, we went to check out Batman. The line was already stretching outside the ghetto portion of Gotham City so we decided to ride it later.
Now my buddy wanted to try something else he never experienced before. Eagle backwards. Got to the giant woodie and the backwards side was the only one running so basically anyone that got in line had no choice but to ride backwards. As we got near the staircase leading into the station , the rain really was coming down. The rain was so heavy, it was creating a waterfall effect off of the station roof. Finally boarded and off we went into a downpour. The advantage of this ride is you dont get pelted in the face by rain because of going in reverse. Wow, what a ride. The brakes were "COMPLETELY" off at the turnaround helix so we were hauling arse backwards through the turnaround and getting "INSANE" air on the bunny hills. The American Eagle is so close to its glory days that its scary. SFGAm I think realized this and finally made the necessary adjustments to get it back to what it once was.
After the Eagle, we checked out the games gallery near the merry-go-round. We did the Amazing Alfredo where the employee tries to guess your weight, age, or month of birth. I won a prize with no problem. I stepped on the scale and it read 240 lbs. The employee looked at me in shock and showed me what she wrote down as her guess. It was 198 lbs. I laughed and said nobody ever guesses my weight right.
We then proceeded to the one and only "DV Monument". Once again I approach this statue and I only wish it would function as a coaster. I just shook my head in disgust as I passed the big green steel structure.
Next up was Southwest Territory and on to Raging Bull. A 2 train operation that flirted with needing 3 trains but the crew was pumping out the trains so the wait was about 20 minutes. Backseat ride action and as usual a fast paced, nicely executed floating air steel beast. My buddy loved it (first time on this one for him).
Trotted on over to Viper which was a walk-on. Hopped on the back seat and I was getting some violent air on this. The coaster being wet seemed to have this woodie flying through its twisted course. I absolutely love this ride. As we approached the end of the exit they had the exit line re-routed to the left of the shop that you usually go through to finally make it out. Turns out the shop was closed.
We now decided to head for Iron Wolf because it finally opened after being down for the first couple of hours. At this point we were some seriously wet creatures. It got to the point where I didnt even feel the rain coming down anymore.
Finally got to Iron Wolf and got in line. As we were waiting in line which was about 3:00, the cold front finally whipped through and I kid you not that the temperature in a matter of 5 minutes dropped about 20 degrees. One minute its mild and the next minute you can see your breath. Everyone in line was looking at eachother in shock. People that were in t-shirts and shorts (wet by the way) were freezing their collective butts off. As we finally approached the station, someone near the front of one of the trains decides to lose his lunch. He had the whole front car splattered with puke. Well, that meant the ride had to shut down. At this point we said forget it because we were soaked and cold and got out of line.
As we were heading towards the exit, we passed Batman which had no line so we parked our butts into the Batcave and got one lap of sheer intensity. I will never get sick of this ride. Its bound to be a classic (first invert should make classic status).
We were at this point wet, cold, and tired so we called it a day about 4:30. We passed over by Power Dive and they had 2 cranes just to the left of it. They also have now installed miniature bowling alleys in the area where the turnstile lines for Power Dive were. Its now being called "Power Alley". They didnt even take the Power Dive sign down. They just removed the letters for "Dive" and replaced them with "Alley". The bowling attraction looks like its ready to go because they had all the stuffed prize animals hanging. I assume it will be available to play this weekend. The snack bar in front of Power Dive(Alley) is still there so the alleys are directly behind it.
On a last note the parks majority of the crowd was bussed in. There were more busses in the parking lot than cars. My buddy and I felt like the seniors at the park because most were teenagers. I think they had physics day going on because of the notepads and books that alot of the kids were carrying.
I would go into what we ate and more of the games we played but I dont want to bore you with that. All in all, a soaking wet, later on becoming cold, coaster filled, having fun the best we can considering the weather, day.
Thanks for reading.
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""To be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, You got to beat the man""!!!
*** This post was edited by Chitown on 5/17/2002. ***
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