SFWoA/CP: Comparitive Views

Gosh, what a beautiful day, it really was......Excited by our 2 hour drive to SFWoA, Glen drove while I graded papers for Monday morning. Being a teacher has the ups and downs like any career. Grading papers is as fun as watching grass grow, but June, July and August are for Coasters.

SFWoA: First of all, watch yourselves around Solon and Aurora. It reeked of bacon and pork, WOW! Since I have a Michigan License, we were followed, not once, but THREE times by Solon's finest on the way in and out. We arrived at 10:15am, processed the pass in 10 minutes and hopped in a ssslllooowww moving X-Flight line for 20 minutes before a solid lap on good Flying Coaster. Only one train working, thus the long(er) wait, but it was worth it.

Superman was outstanding. The most intense ride in the park. The G's on the bottom of the U are insane and we're OFF.....let the motion sickness begin. Despite 3 Dramamine, it didn't matter, my stomach still remains on the top of the swaying (in the wind) spiral. Two laps: Front and back. Walking, actually drifting, no...no, really stumbling to Big Dipper, we found the most disturbing ride of the day. The ol' woodie crushed us, it didn't seem that rough last year, but I was in pain on the walk to my fave, Batman. We were surrounded by oxygen in the que and had two laps, front and back, on the sweet and smooth B&M. If you didn't understand, we had walk-ons on every ride at WoA today.

People, the best woodie of the day, and we hit 4, was the Villian. Smooth as silk and giving air like a paramedic during our two laps. CCI is incredible. Walking to the exit to head to CP, we noticed X-Flight down and no one in que. Overall, the Landscape wasn't completed and the security was intense (metal detectors & officers).

CP: a quick 50 minute drive to the Point, and I'm home. Season pass processing had a two hour wait, but we headed in on the vouchers and hit Raptor. Sigh, if I could only hit the lottery....sigh. Back row, right.....simply incredible. I didn't see anyone that Jeff mentioned at the park. We were at the Point from 3-7:30, but didn't cross paths with our beloved webmaster.

Uhhh??......did a fairy deliver a gift to the wooden coasters at the Point in the off season? I'm lost?!?! The Blue Streak was like I remembered it 20 years ago. (Smooth, AIR, and great laterals on the turn) Holy cow! Mean Streak FLEW through the circuit with some unexpected air. It seemed that our planned weenie roast is on hold, the awesome hunk of wood in the back delivered. After walking and taking in the sites, we waited 1.5 hours for MF in the 3rd seat. I noticed how quiet everything was in the que and now I know: steel wheels. It buzzed like a motorcycle down a lonely highway. I cannot get enough of the 2nd turn into the first tunnel by the trees, spellbinding. (btw: Jeff was right about the wall with the landscaping. Speculation? What's in store? You tell us.)

We didn't hit WT because we needed to drive to Toledo, but it was a great day, overall. We'll hit it in two weeks, no worries.

Comparisons? I've never been to opening weekend to ANY park, and I became educated in a hurry.

Season Passes: CP: SLOW!! 3 cameras, SF: FAST! 8 cameras. Security: CP: No metal detectors and the officers blended in with the above average crowd. SF: Plenty. I was annoyed that I wasn't frisked by the elderly woman working the gate at CP, like at SF!!!! Landscaping: CP: 99% complete and beautiful as always. SF: 50% complete, many areas untouched or standing dirt. Capacity: No comparison. CP: With the exception of MF only running 2 trains, every other coaster was running at least 2 trains. SF: Batman (2), Villian (1), X-Flight (1), Big Dipper (1). Small crowd, small lines = slow lines and depleted staff to run more trains. Great to see both parks on opening weekend.

Please, don't get me wrong, I"m not ripping either park. Both were clean, VERY friendly and in GREAT working order for opening weekend. I enjoy both for what they offer. CP is my home park and SF offers 4 coasters that cannot be matched at CP on their own standing. Lastly, I pray everyone has a safe and enjoyable coaster season. We had a great day and I hope your future trips equal ours...

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*** This post was edited by Woody on 5/5/2002. ***

I also have to give a thumbs-up to Six Flags season pass center. Based on experiences with CP on opening day, I was expecting the worst. Instead I was in and out in less then 30 minutes. The people working the camera where very efficient and kept things moving.

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Bob M.

I think everyone has been dogging CP pass processing for years, and with good reason. I've yet to see anything as amazing as PKI's system though. 25 stations? Wow! Thankfully, with CP doing renew-by-mail, I didn't have to deal with that nonsense this year.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

SF pass processing was excellent. Major props.

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Live on the edge and remember the Twist of Fate.

Agreed -- we were in and out at SFWoA yesterday faster than you could say "Welcome to Six Flags Worlds of Adventure" (full trip report coming later)

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--Greg
"Are you justified in taking life to save life?" -- The Great Debate, Dream Theater
My page

PKI's was just awesome, took 5 minutes. SFOG was purely awful, and I wouldn't know about CP as I did it before the season started.

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The Beast and Night, They go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

PKI sets the standard for season pass processing! I think there had to be a good 100 people when I was there. I don't even remember stopping for my picture!

For those who don't know, PKI has a system down where you line up outside. Once the pass system opens, you follow a yellow line. This line leads through an area (usually the stage) where they have a ton of cameras set up. A person tells you to go to a camera and you stand for a brief second. Next thing you know your back following the line and by the time you get out of the building, they hand you your pass at the door! When you turn around, you're already inside the park! What a great plan!!

"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
http://OhioThemeParks.com

CP definitely needs a bigger office and more stations. Everyone was trying to cram in there to get out of the wind. They also probably need more printers because even after having my picture snapped, I had to go outside and wait for about 10 minutes before my printed pass was brought out. I'm sure the printers are big bucks, but a few additional workstations (hardware wise anyway) wouldn't cost more than a couple grand. I'm not sure how much the software would be.

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

When I went and validated my SFWOA season pass I walked right in. There were three of us validating season passes and we were in and out within 10 minutes. And that time included chatting with one of the guys who did our passes. He was a ride manager or something. They were all really nice there. As joe said, major props to SFWOA.

I dread having to go to CP next week to get my Season pass there validated

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Planned Parks for this summer: SFoGa, CP, SFWoA, SFGAm, SFKK, PKI, MA, SFStL, HW, KW. Is 10 enough?
Cornerstone Festival 2002... I will be there