SFMW 4/26 Zonga's first day time rides!

Got to SFMW not long after ten. My dad, sister and I would be going. Here's a tip park up the street at Best Western up the street the walk is even shorter from the parking lot in the boonies, and it's free! Anyway we did the Season Pass renewal were you get your sticker, and I lost my sister and I's passes. So that was 25 bucks each down the drain, the Guest Realations lady ( Sharon) sent up to the front of the processesing line which was a good hour long to get pictures. That was nice! I noticed V2 was looking rather empty, there wren't many people getting to the park this early so we went to ride before the wait was big time, but it was testing when we go there due to a mechanical problem, then they evacuatied the station. Luckily, we never queue'd up so we decided to move onto Roar which had a short wait and decided to ride up front. I agree with DWeaver, the queue is tiny, they just start it now were the tunnel is under the station and your at the steps, can maybe hold a 20 minute wait! Just as we got in the train, the wait was shooting out into the midway. Lucky us!

The front provided a great view of the first drop and made a great ride better! Plus I noticed the nice new spify breaks, nice to see some up keep, and even nicer, not a single trim on the track baby!

Then we took a short bathroom stop on the way to Medusa, all the bathrooms today were very clean. Medusa had a next to nothing wait, as usual for us and we took a ride in the back.

Man this was the best spin I've had on this ride, its just ripped through the first part of the course and the first drop had some very nice g's Medusa also is the only ride in the park I think that operated flawlessly today and opened with the park. They still play the pop music in the queue which they started last season, better than nothing!

V2 was working agian as viewed from Medusa's lift so it's time to ride! My dad and sister haven't ridden the new version and I made shure we were in the 3rd and 4th rows to get some nice hang time action! After a short wait they were real excited to ride, this trip was great, this is still my favorite ride in the park and the holding break worked full bore this time, really didn't do much for me though, I guess I knew it was coming but I never really felt my whole body lean on the restraint. Great ride.

Then to the car for lunch then back in to check om Zonga, sence it was now testing! Dad and Heather would see the Sea Lion show then meet me at Tiger Island at 1:30.

Just as I got there there was a decent crowd infront and the ops were riding. When they were done he gave the thumbs up and ZOnga was open for it's 2nd day of operation, the guy next to me didn't know it was so new! SO it made him pretty excited. The train looked real snug so I went for the front row to make shure I could fit my long legs and it wasn't too bad of a problem, but it really wasn't as comfortible as say, Medusa!

I waited about 25 minutes for the front row. Those real loud anti roll backs must scare some people! People complained of the roughness, then I heard a kid say just lean your head to a side, and I remembered the patented coaster freak rough coaster riding style and it worked, just one head bang. SO now onto the course itself.

It's a nice ride, the first drop is short and just great, as are the numerous inversions, but all the times the ride really got going we would be greeted by some hill leading to a midcourse and after the last inversion, there really aren'y any more elements, just does wanders back to the breaks, it looks a lot faster when your on it, but if they turned off the last midcourse break, this part of the ride could really be enhanced! A nice welcome addition to SFMW but I got concerns there.

The ride looks REAL temporary, from the saprce landscaping, to the tiny queue in the station, and the fact that there looks to be no footers, and a real tiny exit path that is barely paved, I think it might not be staying here forever. Yup the ride roation program is back. Then I hustled over to the Tiger Island and saw the short program on some of the world's only swimming cats. Its cool to see them dive in the water!

Then we looked around Animal Adventure for a bit and saw the reptile presentation, pretty cool. Then I finnaly rode Jamboo! It's kind of a Falling Star ride and my first of that kind. I liked it a lot and not a hint of any sickness! Then we saw some more animals and I did The Arc swinging ship, this thing can get you quesy so watch out!

Then we were all going to ride Zonga together, but it broke when we got there, still a short wait. So we saw Ski Xtreme, which, with the exception of a new wipe out series, is the same good show as last year.

The park looks very nice, no trash was really anywere excpet for some on the tables in the food area in the back. The park is real nice and I hope Zonga stays. I hope to get the the park a lot this summer, even though its getting kinda dull in some parts! Plus call me crazy but the yellow in Medusa's paint sheme, could use a little bit of freshining up eh?

Thanks guys for reading.

------------------
Sorry, No BBQ'S in SFMW are allowed.

Hopefully we'll trade Flying Coaster for Zonga sometime in the not-so-distant future. ;)

Zonga doesn't have footers because it wasn't a permenant coaster to begin with. It's meant to travel around (it traveled the fair circuit in Germany for years) so that's why the ride looks temporary. However, because there are no footers, the cement pad it sits on acts as one big footer, which is why you don't see any landscaping within the ride. It looked the same way in Houston: http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery492.htm?Picture=3

-Nate

Is Zonga the coaster with 6.7 G's and if it is how are they?

------------------
-Sean Newman

The 6.7 g´s are certainly gone, since the first drop and the height of the first circular loops have been altered to reduce speed. The train consists of five cars now (instead of six, when it toured in germany), this takes momentum off the ride as well.

The numerous midcourse brakes are a reminder of its glory fairground days. The ride used to run five trains! It could easily pump more than 2000 people per hour. I wonder if the brakes are all active now?

I remember rides with the brakes turned off (and in the rain), the ride was so fast, especially the second drop, that it felt completely out of control.

I love to see the ride back in operation, but I don´nt understand why they put it in SFMW, right next to MEDUSA?! Why didn´t they install it at a smaller SF park which has no decent looper?

------------------
i was a teenage rollercoaster designer

Just want to let everyone know, Zonga may experience some unexpected downtime due to the need for whelding. The track is bouncing a little too much. lol

Edit: Thought I would mention that the capacity of the ride is claimed to be 720 PPH with 3, 20 person trains.

------------------
www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com
*** This post was edited by GoliathKills 4/27/2003 6:14:40 PM ***

I don't know why we got Zonga! Maybe SF big wigs picked SFMW out of a hat ;0

------------------
2002, PGA,SFMW,MK,MGM,AK, EPCOT,IOA, UNIVERSAL, SWO,and SFMM!
2003,?

Those brakes on the track are TRIM brakes, they are not deisgned to be able to stop the train (unlike a block brake). You can't divide the circuit into sections based on those brakes.

This ride looks like it has about 5 blocks: station, lift, first brake set, second brake set, and a third brake set. The three sets of brakes are on the ground after you complete the ride, not the trims I mentioned.

I could be mistaken, but that's what it looks like.
------------------
Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

That is what it looks like, but upon talking to Mike King, the train can be stopped on them and passengers unloaded. Until I talked to him, I thought just like you did GP.

------------------
www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com

At least one of them absolutely *must* be a block brake, or at least *was* when it traveled the fair circuit. In at least one of the pictures on the following page, you can see two trains on the course: http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/ESthrillerGF.htm

-Nate
*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 4/27/2003 8:22:36 PM ***

Look here to see the stairs off of the brakes. That would mean they plan on evacuations from them...

------------------
www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com

As Texas Tornado, every one of those block brakes slowed you down a bit, the second half of the ride was always kinda boring as a result.

And bouncing and lifting a little off the ground is normal.

The reason Zonga sits at Marine World is because the park is in a competitive market with Paramount. The park needed a cheap coaster to up their count.

------------------
Evanescence-My Immortal. Coming to a rock opera near you...

If you scroll down the link provided by Coasterdude318 you can read a ride specification (in english as well) which lists the number of trains as five and the hourly capacity as 3000 ppl. (the official specifications of the Stengel engineering office states 2800 ppl/h).

I knew THRILLER from season one and I have never ridden any coaster more often than this one. So I do know for a fact that all brakes serve as blockbrakes.

Once I was stopped in the second brake (the one before the fourth loop) and we could watch a worker with a big sledgehammer climbing halfway up the loop and hammering at some bolts for about two minutes. After he climbed back down, our train was released and we were finishing the ride with an extra eerie feeling. This was insane, and you should have heard the people on the train staring in disbelief and uttering their fear/amusement at this stunt.

To downsize the capacity from 2800 ppl to 780 is wild. I understand there is no reason to send as many people through the course in an hour, but this is pathetic.

@DWeaver: Do you think that the GP will see ZONGA as a reason to go to SFMW instead of PGA? As good as ZONGA is/was, do you think it raises any eybrows standing next to MEDUSA and V2?

ps. look at the pic on Schwarzkopf-coaster.net with the red tracks. This pic was taken in Thrillers first season, and you can see that there are no OTSR on the seats. It was wicked and wild.
------------------
i was a teenage rollercoaster designer

Trick Track, with the way Six Flags have been marketing this ride, I am sure they will have people pouring in this year. In the commercials they mention things like "Zonga is the steepest looping coaster in the world", or the only new rollercoaster in Norcal. I've heard many people talking about this "totally gnarly" new ride.
*** This post was edited by Antuan 4/28/2003 3:18:09 PM ***

I don't know about attendance figures because, from what I have heard, SFMW's best day isn't as good as PGA. Basically SFMW doesn't get as many people per day as PGA does.

------------------
www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com

The reason for the severe drop in capacity is the shoulder restraints. From my Friday ride, I can tell you that it is NOT easy to get in and out of the train. The restraints do not raise up as far as you think they would, thus causing you to "shoe-horn" your way in/out of the seat. The reasoning behind the restraints not raising any higher, at least what I think thanks to Tom, is that in case a train is dispatched without a restraint down completely. If raised much higher than they are currently set, the restraint would not survive the trip (i.e. be torn off from the VERY tight clearances).