SFGAm...4/26 nice day, but....

no V2, no DelayJaVu, no Superman (obviously) and NO VIPER...

the three best rides in the park down for the count, we fiugred we'd make the best of a beautiful day, low crowds and a 25 buck ticket....

hit Bull first...nice ride. smooth and sweet. kinda slow, but it was early yet. 10 minute wait.

on to Eagle, blue side only. interesting ride. nice, but i wouldnt want to do it everytime. 10 minute wait.

Time for Batman...SOOO intense. nice ride. gotta love B&M for what they do sooooo well... another 10 minute wait...

hit the Sky Trek Tower for a better view of Superman...took LOADS of pics this day.

Space Shuttle America..what the heck..its right there, its a walk-on. corny but different.

time now for Viper. get in line. get ONTO platform. get TWO TRAINS AWAY...Viper goes down. dang it all to heck!! utter some Elvish curses and leave...

back to Bull...another nice ride, row 7...good air, VERY fast. noticed that the blue train is still sitting under the transfer track, in pieces...hmmmmmmmmm...

speaking of trains, WHY oh WHY does DelayJaVu have NO train on the track and V2 only has HALF of one?? and what happened to my beloved black train from Demon??

ok, back to the TR...hit Whizzer. i will ALWAYS ride Whizzer. always. i love it to death and it is so much fun.

ok...another ride on Eagle, this time red side. only one train on red side today. nice, fast, smooth ride. it is like the Eagle of yore. whatever they did to it over the winter has really made a difference. no screaming of the train in the helix, nice speed throughout the course, (except for those darn brakes at the top of the helix)....just like it was new again. and the AIR!! oh the AIR!! be still my Elvish heart!! to be in love with Eagle again is wonderful...

time to go back to car for a minute. see Superman TESTING!! take TONS of pictures of testing. this ride is gonna be great!! truly impressive. cant wait to ride it!!

head back to park, get in line for Viper again...get up to platform, get to airgates, NEXT TRAIN is ours...WHAM!! Viper goes down again!! someone comes and looks at train...finds something LEAKING from train...more curses and off platform again...

we decide that nothing but wood will satisfy by now...off to Eagle. it is 5:30 by now....get in four more red side laps, each better than the last. even get one racing the blue train from start to finish. on last two laps, blue train is stuck at top of lift. those poor people, having to watch as the red train keeps going by...by our last lap some of them were starting to freak a little. cant say i blame them...

all in all, an OK day. i mean, c'mon, it was 25 dollars!!

park looked great, nice and clean. Columbia Carousel looks beautiful with the new paint job. nice work, boys.

good day. the only real disappointment was no V2...a little V2 would have tasted real good today...

namarie!!

LLG

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

Sfgam is open?? I dont think so!-Brian
*** This post was edited by Coasterfreak79 4/26/2003 11:05:15 PM ***

Was there a crane by Delayja?

Was Eagle Blue running backwards?

I'm glad you had a good time, but with three out of the 4 best rides in the park down, that's gotta be a huge disappointment.

it was a buy-out day for Advocate Healthcare...sorry i didnt state that before...

and yes, Eagle Blue WAS running backwards...seems to be a permanent thing. the signs on the ride all indicate backward....i still prefer the forwards side. and the Red side has always been my preference.

no, no crane by DelayJaVu...heck, they hadnt even taken the plastic tarps off the stuff on the towers yet!!

it sure is pretty though...

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

Don't worry about the black train for Demon, it appears and dissapears throughout the season regularly. I'm sure we'll see it yet. What I'm not sure about is V2 and Deja Vu being open for next weekend...

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Sometimes I wonder whether Vekoma would be better off just changing their name...
Never Has Gravity Been So Uplifting.

This viper breakdown thing concerns me. That ride has arguably been the park's most dependable over the last 7 years.

No train on DV's track? Half a train of V2?

Looks like our friends coming for CBCon will get a true, authentic post-2000 SFGAm experience--the Monument in its full glory and V2 breakdowns right and left.

I'm hoping they are "protecting" the rides from breakdowns before the season's official opening day, but that is probably wishful thinking. Plus, if that was the case, it would be very uncool to screw your buyout customers like that.

yes, it WAS uncool...but it seems like us buyout people get screwed like this EVERY year...last year DJV was not running...i have yet to get a ride on the darn thing. sheesh. starting to think i never will....not so sure i want to now...

as far as "protecting the rides", i dunno about that one. the fact that V2 has half of a train on and that DJV's was nowhere to be seen is most concerning.

somehow i think i have a greater chance of marrying Orlando Bloom than SFGAm has of getting everything up and running by next weekend...i just dont see either one happening...if they DO manage it, let me know so i can call the caterer and cancel...

and yes, i have never seen Viper go down like this before. twice in one day?? i was shocked and VERY upset to say the least. very sad...

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow
*** This post was edited by LadyLegolasGreenleaf 4/26/2003 11:46:59 PM ***

I was real close to going to this buy-out for the second year but opted out. Kind of glad I didnt go.

V2 down is a shock to me.

DV down obviously doesnt surprise me.

S:UF not running was expected.

Viper breaking down is a surprise. This woodie is very reliable. I am sure this will be fixed for opening day.

My guess is 3 out of the 4 coasters will be operational for opening day. Geeee, can you figure which one wont be? :)

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

one of these things is not like the others...which one is different, do you know??

3 out of four...hmmmmmmmmm...

Hey, Orlando!! what date are you free again??

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

Who is Orlando Bloom?

I was also really close to going to this, but didn't really want to pay extra for the tickets my friend had since I knew Deja Vu and Superman were going to be down.

Viper breaking down is always a surprise whenever it happens, its a rare site to see. V2 down isn't too big of a surprise but I hope they can get both V2 and Deja Vu up by the end of May.

In past years during Advocate Raging Bull has been down along with V2 and Deja Vu so this wasn't the worst Advocate :) Good TR though.

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Final Deja Vu Count for the 2002 Season: 52
http://www.SFGAmWorld.com

Superman will be good on opening day, but I dont know if I can handle no DV and V2. :(

Kevin Kevin Kevin.....go watch Lord of the Rings and see for yourself....bows, arrows, pointy ears....sigh...

anyway, yes, i knew that this wasnt the WORST Adovcate ever, but i was disappointed nonetheless...

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

Are you Gonna Post the pictures that you took. Cause I wann see what Superman looks like from Sky Trek.

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http://groups.msn.com/kylecoasterworld

choose thy fate: freeze or burn

Fly with the Man of Steel in 2003
SFGAm

i can when i get them developed and scanned...

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

The first Lord of the Rings was enchanting for about an hour, then it got extremely dull as the movie degenerated into a bunch of action/chase scenes for the subliterate. I'm sure the second is basically the same.

I hope V2 is up opening day. Do you think there is any chance of it being open?

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Shockwave @ SFGAm R.I.P 1988-2002
"The Demon awaits you ..." - Great America

My bet is that it will be.

My idea is that parts of the ride (trains, new station equipment, whatever) may not be functional, tested, or out of rehab. This theory holds a little more water with Deja Vu and V2 than Viper, though.

As with Viper's breakdown, I've seen it happen. It isn't a big deal.

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"Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation." - David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
http://www.loopscrew.com
*** This post was edited by I-Nar 4/27/2003 9:02:31 PM ***

actually, Kevin, the second is superior to the first one....

and i hope to get sme pics up soon...anyone have a site they would be willing to host them on??

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mela en coiamin Legolas...
it aint the size of the arrow, its what you do with the bow

OK I know all of you are freaking out over the whole V2 and DJV trains not being on the track. But those are minor things, they can go on over night and I'm sure they will be there for opening weekend. However, SFGAM has always had issues opening new attractions on opening weekend, don't expect Superman to be open.

And to solve your buyout questions for the first of the year. The park uses the weekends for training, most of the time training only a few people at a time. Most of the employees don't start showing up till mid May. That's when you'll see most rides open.

In the end for all of you diehard SFGAM the CBcon 2003 should be enjoyable. Superman will be up and running, the trains will be on all the rides, and most employee's will be there running all of your favorite rides. Look forward to hearing your comments. - Chris