SFWoA 6/10/03 "The Rediscovery of S:UE"

Wow, what a day! SFWoA just impresses me more and more after each visit. I went today as my 5th time to the park on my season pass. I took along my cousin, whom many thought was my girlfriend but actually wasn't, for her first trip to the park now that it carries the Six Flags name. The day in a nutshell - she loved it, my favorite day. I'll expand on all of this, many stories.

The day started off with the hour drive from the Mogadore type area that I live in and I picked my cousin up. I arrived at the park around 10, actually a little after because the national anthem had already played. I used my season pass, my cousin used a complimentary ticket that my mom received on Friday after the Batman was stuck on the brake run and they had to exit over the brakes with the temporary floor. So, we headed straight to X-Flight. I had to laugh when I saw how empty the park was. The wait for X-Flight - 15 minutes. I have never come a little after opening and had a decently short wait for this ride. Well, X-Flight is still a great ride and among my top 3 favorite rides at SFWoA. The crew is very friendly and they are efficient with what they have to work with. One of my favorite crews, but we'll get to that later.

We exited X-Flight and went to S:UE and started something that ended on number 35. We rode our first few rides, just staying on the train for rerides. It was awesome how empty the park was. The Superman is a great ride, anywhere on the train. After about 4 rides, we decided that was enough for the time being, but because of the holding brake and just because of the short lines... my cousin and I like it more than Wicked Twister. So we got off and went on to tackle the entire right side of the park, Mind Eraser, a favorite of mine, the Big Dipper with some more incredible air time in the front seat (don't miss this ride in the front seat, it will truly blow you away! Everytime I am afraid I will be let down, but it was fantastic!) So we rode Mr. Hyde's Nasty fall and they had to check the hands for coins, but we cheated the system and got to watch a penny in the freefall. I love that with pennies, but I'm extremely careful. We went and rode the Batman. My cousin absolutely loved this ride and since ride one in the front seat, she wanted to ride it all day. I didn't argue, but she quickly discovered she liked the Superman more. So after a ride in the front, back and middle - talking to the ride op Katie there, who has recognized me because of my constant rerides at least twice a week on the ride, we found out she has never been on the Batman. She said she was coming back after she got off to ride some rides. I'll get to that later, it is a story in itself. So we got off and headed to Raging Wolf Bobs for our sterilization. You get banged around so so so bad on the first half. I can't stress enough how rough this coaster is. It really needs the first half retracked. Easily, my least favorite coaster in the park! Enough said.

So since we were close to the old Sea World side we took a walk to the wonderful little cove with all the flat rides. We rode each one about twice and could just stay on for rerides. This is a nice addition to the park last year and I must say I really like it. We had to take the walk over to the Starfish ride, which is so much better than the other flat rides they could actually put it by itself. Incredible ride, great speed, very thrilling. I can't go to SFWoA and not get my starfish! We headed over across the bridge and grabbed a bite to eat.

In order to keep this decently short I'll say that we rode all the coasters in the afternoon and even managed many of the flat rides. With headaches from the heat, humidity and what not we went to the parking lot for some tylenol and came back ready to finish the night off. In the afternoon we saw a family go crazy after their 4 kids got stuck at the top of Mr. Hyde's Nasty fall and then I was also attacked by a group of kids that had a fight and I got hit with peaches. Crazy day.! So anyhow, we are cheap kids, so we always pack our lunch and dinner. We went straight to the Mind Eraser and got numerous rides here. Well worth it. Then we went to the Superman for a good ten more rides and headed to X-Flight. Now, the line had quickly died down and was only about 10 minutes. Just as we left, it started to pour. It was okay though, the ride was great! I love X-Flight. My headrest was a falling off just a tad so every time we flipped over I got whacked in the head. After our ride, we knew it was time to migrate to the other side of the park. We got a front row ride on the Serial Thriller and met the guy that works there, Andrew. He told us we should definitely get jobs there next year as we were very interested and will soon be 17. I am pumped and would love to work there. I think ST is a great ride, but others will disagree with me on that one. We headed to the Batman and saw Katie again. She said she was getting off at 8 and would ride rides. We wanted to get her on the Batman and she said maybe. So my cousin and I headed to the Superman.

The best op in the park, Sandy called my name out. I was afraid I was being stalked and she knew way too much about me. She knows I post on here. She knows I was at the park on Saturday. She knows I love the Mind Eraser and rode it 11 times straight two weeks ago. Crazy I tell you. Well, she reads Coasterbuzz and noticed me. She finally put a name to a face when I wrote about a past op that I talked to. Well Sandy is awesome and the Superman crew is very friendly and always very efficient. I got to talking to Sandy about just about everything at the park through my almost 20 rides in a row. We both agree on one thing, the back is the best. She taught me all the op signals and even told us the best way to ride the Superman. I heard so many stories from her, and it was really cool. When I said I was going to go catch a ride on the Batman at dark, she was disappointed we were leaving because her and Lyndsey, another great Superman op who was in the box the whole time, liked having crazy guests on the ride like my cousin and I and people to talk to. Well, we heard a story about a girl that rode it 1000 times in one season and then we were off. Down to the midway, we saw that X-Flight was closed and went straight to Batman.

Ironically, on our way to the Batman we saw the Batman op with her mom. She wasn't going to ride any rides but was there to see the park. I don't know, I was confused. She said she might ride the Batman, so we walked with her to the Ferris Wheel where she blew us off and went with a group of her friends. No BKF ride for her. She said she was afraid of heights, but day in and day out she reassures guests that it is a fun and safe ride. She has never even sat in the seat. I'm confused on that one. So my cousin and I got 2 great rides on the Batman, back seat. This is my second favorite coaster in the park. On our trip back to S:UE at a quarter til closing, we saw Katie again. This time she talked a bit longer but said she had to go to see her other friends. I was shocked we were considered friends and I told her she didn't even know our names. We told her and clarified that we were cousins. Yes, that was a major misconception of the day, and I was complimented by her and the S:UE crew. Very ironic we couldn't get the Batman girl to ride the Batman... hmmm... Okay, so we had to finish off the night on the Superman.

We had wanted the train to ourselves all night. We kept scooting back and until finally we were in the back seat. It was all ours and the train emptied. What we thought to be our last ride, number 34 actually wasn't. They locked the harnesses fast and did a quick chech through on the train. The phone rang - the dreaded closing call at 10:02. But - we got one more ride. It was so awesome. We pretended we were running the entire time and it was a blast. I love S:UE and I never realized how cool the crew is. I gave them all a high five and promised I'd be back - I know I will within the next week, hopefully. So we loaded up the car and headed home. The day ended with 15 BKF rides, 2 on X-Flight, 5 on ME, two on all other coasters and a whopping 35! on S:UE. I'm up to 100 on the season, so I'll see if I can come close to the 1000/season record held by some Julie. SFWoA has made a complete turn around this year and is excellent! Thanks for reading, sorry it was so long.

-Zach *** Edited 6/12/2006 4:41:58 PM UTC by coasterzak***

wow that is an amazing number of rides on S:UE. I think the best ride in the park is The Villain but i've only ridden it 7 times this year b/c I only went for like 2 hours on opening day. I've been so busy lately that I haven't been back since. I'm surprised you didn't like RWB. It used to be a really fun ride last year with the Big Dipper style train and the rough ride all the way through. This year that ride is too rough on the 1st half and boring on the 2nd half. SF definatly screwed that up. As for the Superman, how did you rack up all of those rides on it? It's an awesome ride but what possesed you to keep running back to it so many times during the day? You must have done a TON of walking b/c S:UE is on the farthest end of the park. My goal for the year is 100 Villain rides and I don't know if I'm even going to make that. For 1000 rides, you would have to go at least 2 times a week for the rest of the season and ride superman at least 35 times each visit. It can be done but won't it get boring?

Where is the starfish ride you were talking about? The only flat rides I remember are the ones closest to the RWB and happy harbor. Anyway SFWoA has made a turnaround and if you get any inside info from these ride ops make sure to post it.
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Riding on top of the world with Cedar Point

Well, I didn't have to exit S:UE, I just stayed on in almost the same exact seat. We did quite a bit of walking, but we are cross country runners so it is nothing we couldn't handle. The line for the Batman was a pain in the neck and they weren't loading very quickly, but with S:UE it was more personalized and we didn't have to lose our seat. I liked it quite a bit actually and it didn't get boring racing with all that traffic. As for the Starfish ride, it is near the Penguin Encounter and also the floating bridge where it connects on the Sea World side. It is hidden in a bit, but it's a must ride. The new trains on RWB make for a very rough ride. I agree, I liked it more before. Big mistake. Make sure you hit the Starfish ride though!

Such stamina, I envy you young 'uns.;) I got 2 re-rides on V2 at SFGAm last year and I was starting to feel it. Sounds like you had a good time.

Later,
EV
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Remember that if you're one in a million, that means that there are 5000 other people on Earth just like you.

Zima- Starfish is located where the former Sea World dolphin statue stood. Its located in the garden area between Shouka's stadium and the aquarium.

Wow Coasterzak, I have to give you some credit for your Superman riding. My last visit I rode Superman 18 times in an hour (20 laps overall) and I thought that was impressive. 35 is something though! On that same visit, I was on Villain around 8:45-9 and there were about 3 people in the station, the ride ops. said that you could stay on, but sadly I had to leave.

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-Bubba
HTTP://community.webshots.com/user/cpbubba

Glad to see you had a good time at SFWoA. The park is really beginning to turn it around this year.

S:UE is not a hard ride to re-ride, especially with no lines. I once got 81 rides during frightfest in 2001...and I wasn't even there the whole day. I had football until 2-ish that day.
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Grit Your Teeth, Bear Your Load, Enjoy Your Ride on Thunder Road"

You live in Mogadore, I live in Barberton. Ive only been up there twice this year though. I think the park is great also. Lot better then the past two years.

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coasterandy

Stealing Katie, my RideOp. I'm gonna have to have a talk with you Zach.....lol

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Corey
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Intamin, the cadillac of roller coasters.
MF-19

I HEART OHIO

I totally agree with your love for S:UE. I absolutely love that ride myself. It's the best impulse imo, and I've been on all the U.S. versions of the ride. S:UE blows them all away, including SFGAm's V2 which imo is the second best, followed by WT. Such a great ride, and it's definately in my top five.

Glad you enjoyed your day at SFWoA! My first time there was two weeks ago, and I loved every minute we spent wandering both sides of the park. My rides on S:UE and Batman were the best of the day.

Justin "Why can't SFMW or SFMM be like SFWoA?" Adams
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Don't put anyone on a pedestal, because then people will point and laugh at them.

Just a heads up for Starfish, there are no single riders permitted; every seat must have 2 passangers in it. Thanks!

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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Ride-Ops Crew 2002-2003(Find Me, Win a prize!)

Yeah...my little cousin was mad at me..so she wanted to ride alone..but she couldnt..so she had to ride with me anyway!...there so cute at her age!....(the little devil)...Im glad you had a great day at the park..im up there just about everyday of the week. ..hangin w/ my girls and riding coasters!.....P.s. my b/f is the ride op for Double Loop Wed-Sat..i think?

Yeah i have to check out that great starfish ride. I haven't seen it b/c I barely go over to the Sea World side. When I went last year it kinda smelled bad throughout the whole thing and seemed neglected by the Six Flags employees. From what I am hearing it is better this year but I still don't think I'll spend much time WAY over on the Sea World side. If they would ever build their hyper, I would go over there to ride it but i'm not that crazy about animals.

S:UE is a great impulse coaster and I think it is better than the WT not only because of the holding brake and the variety of elements on the spikes but also because of the reliability of the ride. WT is taller and faster when it is running at full power but there have been so many problems that WT only runs at partial power throughout the ride. That has to make S:UE a better ride.

My favorite ride in the park, however, is the Villain rather than Superman. The Villain is an out of control Woodie that maintains speed and gives great airtime. It doesn't need to be a big ride to deliver thrills in a big way. S:UE can get a little repetitive after about 100 rides.

By the way what is the prize for finding you Jes? I think I acidentally saw you first last year but didn't know there was a prize for doing it.
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Riding on top of the world with Cedar Point