SFWoA Opening Day, great trip!

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This was my first coaster trip since last fall so I was definitely excited about it. I had a lot of things to do during the day so I didn’t leave until 5.30. We almost decided not to go when the power windows on the car stopped working and we had to drive there and leave the car parked with the window down, but figured that was a stupid reason to skip opening day.

Walked into the season pass center at 6.05 and was out about 30 seconds later. I was definitely impressed with the system they had there, especially after waiting 2 hours to get my season pass made at Cedar Point last year. I can definitely say if there is something CP can learn from Six Flags it’s how to make season passes.

Nick and I headed straight for Villain since there really isn’t anything else in the park I’ve been waiting all winter to ride. They had two train operation which was pretty impressive to me. I can’t even remember the Villain ran two trains, and no stacking at all! Which definitely made waiting a lot less painful. It was only a station wait which took 3 minutes. Villain was definitely running well as the rides were smooth, fast, and just as great as I remembered them.

We noticed the new G-train on RWB while we were going up the lift and decided to head over there next. It was a walk-on but the ride really hasn’t changed for the better. At first it seems kind of the same as it used to be, bumpy and out of control. But then the second half of the ride is so smooth that the ride is boring, you don’t move around at all. I guess I probably liked the old train better because at least you could enjoy the ride without being totally stapled.

After that disappointment we figured we had to play a little DDR to make the trip complete. There was only one person playing when we got in there, so I got $5 worth of tokens and went to put them on the machine to hold a spot in line for me and Nick. Now, I’ve done this plenty of times in the past, but after I put the tokens on the machine, I noticed they were gone. So I figured some stupid kid came up and grabbed them when I wasn’t looking, but then a girl that was watching told me that they fell down into the machine. That really kind of pissed me off since not only did I lose two tokens, but also there probably won’t be official coin lines until they get that fixed. I complained to the girl working there, but she said she’d never heard of the coin line and so didn’t believe me.

I hadn’t played DDR in a few weeks and it really showed how out of shape I was. I played three songs on heavy and was ready to pass out when I was done. Luckily a guy at a food stand gave me the biggest cup of water he had. After recouping for about 5 minutes we were ready to ride Big Dipper. Overall I thought it was as good as usual, nice airtime, and simply a fun ride.

By this time it was about 7.15 and we only had about 45 more minutes of riding so we headed back over to Villain. We rode it 7 more times before they closed it for the night. After the 4th ride we met Mark from the American Thrill Ride Association I believe. I’m sorry if I screwed that up, for some reason I can’t remember what the name of the club. Anyway, he was a nice guy and we talked coasters for a few minutes.

We rode Villain two more times in a row because they let us have a re-ride. What the ride op did after that though was kind of evil. He pulled the train into the station and started with the old “how was your ride”. Well, everyone in the train started going crazy and we were yelling “one more ride!” so he said, “OK, you can go” pulled the train up about one foot and said “go home that is” and so everyone was kind of disappointed, but it was alright.

After we left I realized that we’d only ridden wooden coasters, but that’s kind of what we came for anyway. Overall I’d have to say I was very impressed with Six Flags compared to previous years. The only things that disappointed me were Raging Wolf Bobs and the DDR machine that ate my money. Other than that it was a great trip!

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Rob - Who believes it is possible to like both Cedar Point and SFWoA...
"A gun is not a weapon Marge, it's a tool. Like a butcher knife, or a harpoon, or... or an alligator" ~Homer J. Simpson

Is the villain the only ride u rode or was everything else closed?

I heard everything was open except S:UE, was this indeed the case?

Hmmm, a friend of mine was there and called me (I wsa at Kennywood) and said that only 5 coasters were up, with one train on each. Maybe things improved after that, but he'd already left in frustration.

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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"I can't believe I just left a nuclear weapon in an elevator." -- Farscape

Well, by the time I got there, in terms of coasters, everything except for Superman was open. I'd be more than willing to be that some things hadn't open when the park did, but I'm not positive about that.

Every coaster, except S:UE, opened within 15 minutes of the park opening. B:KF was the only ride that broke down, and was down for about 15-30 minutes. Someone was exadurating, by a lot

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[link]http://www.randomcenter.com [/link]

Yeah overall it was a great day, riding villian 7 times, as well as RWB and the Big Dipper all in about an hour and 40 minutes. There were a few downsides though. The whole park smelled of manure and RWB had changed for the worse. The park was suprisingly crowded compaired to the other times Robby and I have gone. This didn't effect our coaster riding ability though. After the park closed, we drove over to the edge of the oarking lot where the park was "storing" the parts for the new water slides. I just thought to myself, "Why are they leaving these ride parts in the parking lot instead of putting them inside the park? Another thing, when are they going to start construction on the slides?" It seemed pretty shabby to me, but we'll see how the construction turns out soon enough. I think SFWoA should build another woodie like Villian and then they can be tied for the park with the most wooden coasters!! Does anyone know who holds the record now? I can't remember who holds it, but that would make the park more popular. Oh and Villian count for this year is up to 7 already. I think I'm going to go for either 50 or 100.

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Riding on top of the world with Cedar Point
*** This post was edited by Zima 5/4/2003 9:55:30 PM ***

The park smelled like manure because of all the fresh landscaping materials (mulch) that has been used through out the park. I'd much rather have the park look good in the long run when that smell will be gone by next week.

It smelled like a dump! The park also looked like they forgot they were opening that weekend. Old leaves from last fall all over, grass that needed cut, with dandilions, in the Double Loop queue. They really need to work on the appearance of the park.
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tambo

At least they are taking steps in the right direction to try and improve the park. Last year was a disaster with the zoning fiasco of their hyper and the low attendance mixed with most of the rides staying closed. With the new waterslides and most rides opening, this season looks promising.

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