SFWoA 6/6/03 "The day of breakdowns"

Since I have a pass, I didn't get to the park until late. It was about noon and so we parked and entered the park. Seemed like a nice day, no coasters were down and the slides look fantastic. So we headed to the batman, but it still hadn't opened since the park opened. Went to Raging Wolf Bobs and it was a walk on. The front of that ride is great. By the time we got off, the batman had gotten very full, that is the area in front of it, and they finally let people in.

About 10 trains went and my mom and sister went ahead of the rest of our group and I. They left the station and we entered the train. The train was just about to go after we had almost gotten cleared, but all of a sudden, the loudspeaker cut out and they went, "Oh No!" The power cut out. We sat in the station for about 20 minutes and the people out on the brakes were stuck for good. Eventually the brought the floor back and we got out with the fork in the station. The power had cut out to the park and surrounding businesses, Aurora was without power. So after a while they took a temporary floor with a rail out to the people on the brakes. The maintenance people inched the ride up and just about got pinned under the train. I watched from the exit ramp. Everyone got out onto the one row of temporary floor and then they moved it back. This went for all the rows and when they returned safely to the station they took their names and gave them each a free ticket to the park. To our surprise, the same type of deal happened on about every other ride. The batman people were very mad because they had finally got the ride up for the day and then this happened. So after almost an hour and a half in the park, we had been on one ride. We left for lunch.

We came back when we saw the Superman running. We were very glad because we hadn't got on S:UE yet this year because of its delayed opening. When we returned, the Mind Eraser was yet to take people from the power outage, but was testing. So we hopped on the Superman because X-Flight still had a train on the lift hill in which they had to remove guests from. I rode front seat on S:UE. It was a great ride. This is one of my favorite rides in the park. After we got off, we headed to the Mind Eraser. It was working and this is when breakdown #2 occurred.

So I'm talking to the ride op, I'm about the next cycle to go and we see it come back through the station. It goes up the next hill and we weren't paying attention. All of a sudden, a guest says, "Are they supposed to be on that hill that long?!" And with that, the train was stuck on the hill. They had to call maintenance. They came and took the train to the top of the hill, working from the station, and let it go into the loop. They turned the brakes on though, and allowed it to valley. I have no idea why it couldn't just go the whole way through the loop and boomerang, but it stopped between the loop and the second hill, not quite making it through the loop. We left, and headed to the big dipper.

Front seat ride, very good. The wait was about 15 minutes and well worth it. Our group headed to the El Dorado for a ride and headed back to the entrance to meet up with my dad. At the entrance we met up with my dad's identical twin that we thought was my dad at first, but he had his kids with him. How ironic! We hung out the rest of the day and got my dad. From there, we went to X-Flight. After a 10 minute wait, and not one train dispatched, someone yelled from up top, "It's broke!" We didn't stick around to see, and we got out of line. Back to the El Dorado. A few rides here because my younger cousins don't like coasters.

From there we headed to the Batman - still down from earlier. They jumped on the Ferris Wheel, we went to the Villain. 20 minute wait, got the first car. Great ride! Such a difference from the back to the front. More airtime, smoother, I like it a lot. About 6 and almost time for my group to leave. We headed to the Batman and it was open. We got on and got out of the station, we knew we had the ride! We rode second row. I like the extreme front or back, no second row deal, but it was the shortest line. We waited almost 15 minutes for it, but it too was well worth this short wait. Afterwards, we headed to the parking lot and departed. A short day at SFWoA, but many breakdowns and disappointments. Despite all this, I was a good sport and I think I will return tomorrow, I'm just looking for a riding buddy. I want my first night rides of the year!

Man, that really sucks. For some reason or another Aurora has the darndest problem with keeping the power on. I can remember of two power outages last year, and this sounds like the first of this season. What's up with that?! Make sure you come take a visit to the other side of the park tomorrow and try to find me!

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

So your name is Jes, where should I look for you at? I'm there all the time. I'm not positive I'll be there, because of the weather, but I'll see who I can go with. All my buddies are busy, and I want someone to ride with. I'll see what I can do.

That's rough, sorry to hear your trip went so...well...not optimally.

However, I would like to take this time to respond to all of the snide remarks over the past year or two about California's electricity problems. Nyaah!

Okay, I'm done, and back to the TR'ing :)

Apparently, there was a fire at Dick's across the street causing all of the power on that side of Aurora to fail. My little brother was there, it was his school pinic day, while I was at Coastermania.

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

If Aurora would learn to pay their electric bill occasionally, these things wouldn't happen.

------------------
WW is fun. CP_M @ TN and Perfectbowler @ SFN.

I returned the next day as planned and the park was great. The lines weren't very bad at all and I managed 2 rides on X-Flight, the first being around a half hour wait and the second around 5 minutes. I rode all the coasters twice, except for the Big Dipper I rode 5 times, the Superman I rode 10 times and the Batman I finished the night out on riding for the last hour, switching my seat each time the train would return to move for wherever there was a line of people. The day was excellent, and I think I did very well! Sorry Jes, I was over at the Sea World side, but I didn't see you.

Funny, I was thinking that maybe I should have stayed past 11:30am that day, instead of heading to PKI early. Now I'm glad I went to PKI when I did.

------------------
Goccvp1

Scooby Doo and The Haunted Castle...MUCH more fun when you have ride partners!!!