SFOG - 3/15/04 - or, No Deja Vu for the 4th year

Just a brief trip report....

I was in Atlanta for the weekend so decided to stop by SFOG on Sunday. The weather was good, and I thought the crowds would be light...apparently SFOG thought this too, so they decided to not open the main parking lot and ONLY open the premium $12 lot. This made me mad (withholding anti-SF rant). I didn't want to pay $12....after talking to the attendent for a while he tipped us off that some of the nearby hotels might be selling parking, and I found one for $8.

I can understand closing off lots when you expect light crowds, but only opening the higher price lot and not giving the guest a choice sucks. (I'm glad I managed to get the tip out of my guy about the hotel)

The park:

Cyclone - 1 train wait. WOW! This was closed on my last visit, so I was glad to have the chance to ride again....what a wicked (ina good way!) ride. The back seat had some SCARY air.....the turns could use a little work, but the ride really wasn't rough.

Acrophobia - I love Intamin drops, but this unique one I'm unsure about....I think I (as a man!) would rather have had a regular seat, but retain the tilting effect. Still a great ride, but I'm still a little physically "scarred" from it :)

Monster Plantation - Wow...what a great dark ride. I love dark rides, and outside of Disney/Universal and the old Phantom Theater, this is one of the best. The sound system needs some upgrading (most of the monsters sounded muffled), but overall it's a great ride...the animations seemed in decent shape (better than they were during my last visit)

Superman - Nice ride. I'm not a flyer fan, but I like this ride (unlike the Vekomas). It's still "gimmicky" for me, but fun :)

Scream Machine - WOW! This was rough the last time I was there, but it has been obviously retracked and is in top-notch shape. Beautiful new paint. A+ :)

Ninja - Didn't want to ride it :)

Mine Train - Fun...it's a mine train, what can I say!

Mindbender - A real Gem! Anton was bending steel with grace and building super smooth rides before anyone....what a killer, killer coaster :)

Batman - Always fun, no matter where you ride it!

Deja Vu - It's 2004...why can't they make it work? I've yet to ride this....I've seen them all (in America), but only had the chance to ride SFGAms once, after 3 visits there. I'm trying not to rant about it, but it's the one ride I really wanted to ride!

The new rides/coaster - Nothing but dirt and some concrete...I know it's early in the season, but it would be nice to have your new attractions ready for the park when it opens, especially when they're small and "easy" to construct.

All in all we only stayed two hours, but rode everything! The most we waited was one train. It's a nice park, and I do look forward to going back someday, and hopefully having a chance to ride Deja Vu! Now I get to go to Wild Adventure on Thursday where I hope to get my 350th coaster! (I'm such a credit-whore :) ) *** Edited 3/15/2004 6:23:32 PM UTC by Peabody***

I don't know what this means but on SFOG website Deja Vu is not listed when you ask it to list all rides.

Probably nothing to read into, but the word is that Deja Vu at SFMM is closed for a design flaw...maybe SFOG is too.

The funny thing is that Deja VU is just one BIG design flaw! :)

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Peabody said:
Acrophobia - I love Intamin drops, but this unique one I'm unsure about....I think I (as a man!) would rather have had a regular seat, but retain the tilting effect. Still a great ride, but I'm still a little physically "scarred" from it :)

Hmm, Acrophobia does More of a number to my shoulders than anywhere else. that ride is such a peice of crap compared to any other Intamin drop ride.

Monster Plantation - Wow...what a great dark ride. I love dark rides, and outside of Disney/Universal and the old Phantom Theater, this is one of the best. The sound system needs some upgrading (most of the monsters sounded muffled), but overall it's a great ride...the animations seemed in decent shape (better than they were during my last visit

Yeah, the soundtrack really kills the ride. I didn't get the ride at all, and couldn't understand anything they were saying last year. I'm ashamed to say it, but I'd actually like to have a refurb of that ride including some of the same animatronics, but new laser guns and targets.

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Peabody said:

I was in Atlanta for the weekend so decided to stop by SFOG on Sunday. The weather was good, and I thought the crowds would be light...apparently SFOG thought this too, so they decided to not open the main parking lot and ONLY open the premium $12 lot. This made me mad (withholding anti-SF rant). I didn't want to pay $12....after talking to the attendent for a while he tipped us off that some of the nearby hotels might be selling parking, and I found one for $8.

I can understand closing off lots when you expect light crowds, but only opening the higher price lot and not giving the guest a choice sucks.

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FYI: When only the premium lot is open the park charges the lower price to everyone. $10 is pretty steep, and right now you can get a Season Parking Pass for $20 (price valid through the end of the month).

I'm actually not sure about that, man. They were charging $12 yesterday. The fellow working it said "The main lot, the $10 one, isn't open today"

Unless the normal lot is $12, they jacked up the price yesterday.

For opening weekend, the "Premium" lot was only $10. There was also parking available at the Days Inn for $5. I got a parking pass, so I expected to pay $25, and was pleasantly surprised by the $20 coupon.

The cyclone is running VERY good this year so far! The red train was running a little better on opening weekend. The pain on GASM and Cyclone look great, and Batman's trains even got new paint as well.

You're lucky you got a ride in on Mindbender. It's my favorite ride there, and was having some serious issues on opening weekend - mostly getting stuck on the brake run.

As far as Deja Vu, I rode it twice last year. It took me 2 seasons to finally get on it, and it's really a fun ride. I had ridden the one at SFMM in the 2nd row, and wan't impressed, but after riding both the front and the back at SFOG, I figured out why people like this ride. It will eventually open sometime this season.

deja vu was working for a while last year..i actually have a picture on my website where a train was at the top of the right side http://lizbeth010.fotopages.com/?entry=65925 ....it was working a lot of the times we went there last season with our passes...but we went back this year and it was closed (probably the same day you went, the parking was what you are talking about when we went)

Jeff, you credit whore you! Lucky stiff, or should I say floppy after Acrophobia? ;)

Nice fun TR that really reminds me I live in the Northwest. :(

Hey, wondering about the season pass coupons for 2004 are. Any discount rates for friends/family in the season pass coupon booklet this year? Anything else to look forward to? Free White Water admission this year?

Sean

Thanks for the updates Jeff! I am hoping to get my third and final Deja Vu credit but who knows. This will be my first SFOG trip. :-)

I will be there this weekend with the rest of the Spring Fling credit whores. :-)

-Tina

*** Edited 3/25/2004 12:54:49 AM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

I have my fingers crossed for you Tina! (It wasn't open this last weekend either :( )

I did make it to Wild Adventures though. Watch for my trip report soon called "I can't believe my 350th coaster was a freakin' boomerang!" :)

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Ga.Sean said:
Hey, wondering about the season pass coupons for 2004 are. Any discount rates for friends/family in the season pass coupon booklet this year? Anything else to look forward to? Free White Water admission this year?

Sean

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http://www.playride.com/tug2sfog/couponbook.html

And all you people heading to Six Flags for Spring Fling might want to check out the guide:

http://www.playride.com/tug2sfog

Oh, and don't expect the new Kiddie coaster yet either :( It's just concrete.

Oh I know Bill's heart will be broken over that one. lol.

Robert, I have seen your site before and it's very informative, thank you! See you Saturday. :-)

-Tina

Gator, upset about not getting a coaster credit? The same Gator who insisted on waiting over 45 mins for the kiddie coaster in ToonTown?

LOL!

I thought I was the only one who had done that :) (I waited 45 or so for the kiddie coaster at Tokyo Disney :) )

Nah, Barnstormer was *only* about 30-35....the BAD waits are for the kiddie inverts and esp. that kiddie suspended at PKI (SDGC). The only time I waited longer for a "kiddie" was Tree Top Racers...and no one's gonna argue that coaster isn't worth over 45 minutes, LOL...

Besides, you KNOW I have a better time on most kiddie coasters than the 5-year-olds do...:)

The *exception that proves the rule* was Fiesta Express....that was nearly painful, but it was worth a good laugh....probably the only *coaster* I've ridden that I could outrun....without even spilling my Diet Coke...;)

Back to Jeff's TR (this thread's supposed to be about Jeff, hehe)...I had exceptional luck getting the initial *credit laps* for the DVs, but since then I've been batting an 0-fer (2 times at oG, 1 at SFMM)...doesn't bode well for the Spring Flingers....;)

Getting some newbies to Ga. Cyclone, Scorcher, and esp. "Brian's favorite woodie" will be LOADS of fun...who KNOWS, I might even write a TR myself....;)

edit: ROFL...just realized Mooshie was talking about Gadget's Go-Coaster at Disney during the Solace trip....yep, that one was *longer*....but good queue theming made it go by pretty quickly....:)

Join me now in a rousing version of Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life"....;) *** Edited 3/26/2004 7:01:37 AM UTC by rollergator***

BTW, for all of you going to Spring Fling tomorrow, it looks like no Deja Vu for sure as the ride didn't open today and there was no activity at all in the ride area. Tower 2's pulley cart was all the way down in the "maintenanace" position.

Maybe we can get ERT on the other artwork of coaster engineering from Vekoma ;). *** Edited 3/27/2004 3:28:23 AM UTC by Chris the Coaster Freak***

Has anyone been to SFMM lately? I will be going there in a couple weeks and was wondering if it has been running lately or if it has also been closed.