Ok i just want to say one thing. This park is my home park and among all the websites it doesnt seem to get very much credit as being a good park. It is. Yes, SFMM is better, but SFA is a great park. So, heres my Review of Steel.
Its only a 45 min. drive, so we got there quickly. We have a tradition of every year bringing a HUGE bucket of KFC chicken for lunch, then puke it up later in the day, so i had a bit of stomach churning.
Two Face: The Flipside. We got in line for the opening of the park for the day and immediately rushed to Two Face to get the first train of the day! Its a first for me. A good warmup coaster, i love the feeling of slowly being pulled up the lift and looking at my riding partner, Andrew (aka shnoz) get all scared looking down. If you have never been on an Invertigo or clone of it, get on one even if just for the idea of sitting ACROSS from your best friend and seeing their face. The boomerang on this ride is very intense, and when we went throught the loop, i thought we were zooming up the other hill, until we became inverted. But the most fun element is doing the ride over again the opposite direction ON THIS RIDE because you and whoever sits across from you have switched places, so YOU can see THEM get scared or vice- versa. We went ahead and rode it again since the line was still a tiny crowd, and we switched directions. Definitely do this to get the full experience. Later on in the day, we did this ride again, just to cool off.
The Joker's Jinx. This is a VERY ROUGH headbanging ride, so no joke, i always bring aspirin for headaches after Jinx. The launch is OK, not the best, but he seats are pertty comfy until you SLAM! your head back and forth. Sit near the front and hold your head to one side. It has an incredible ammount of vertical curves (about 30 i think) so watch out! As for the loops and inversions and what have you, you barely notice when you are upside down. But is is sometimes cool to look up (actually down) in an inversion when the train is going slow and see the ground above you. Do get on it more than once, but not twice in a row. Doing so will turn your brain to mush. On my on-ride picture, i had one eye squinted and my head to one side (and other signs of pain), :( but i had fun :) at the end of the ride because my brothers riding buddy had puked his guts up all over the car (the ride in front of us) so we got the chance you will never get: actually RELAXING in the cars of Joker's Jinx, since it is a major headbanger. It is still a great ride though, and i am DEFINITELY not dissing it. We just relaxed, watched the employees clean up barf, talked about what to ride next, and looke at Superman: Ride of Steel and Batwing (which we didnt have a chance to ride due to 3.5 hour lines)SUXOR!!!! :(
Roar. A very fun wooden coaster. It is only 90 feet, but you seem sort of high if you dont look at the towering 156 foot second hill of Superman. This is may favorite wooden coaster due to cool lapbars and a very cool twisting first drop. This thing zooms around and has a ton of crossovers. I really had fun on this coaster, my grandmom AND my mom (who both wont even go on the flume) got on it. It was hilarious. Anyway, they seem to keep the wood in reallt good condition, and if you want to see an aerial view, go to
www.coastergallery.com , it has a great aerial view of Roar which does it some justice. I also liked the banked turn that is really high in the air and ends in a drop. My brothers friend barfed again after this ride :) :) :) :) :) :) :) This ride is not as intense as Superman of course, but it IS 90 feet and wooden, so it is a competitor. This is one of my favorite rides there, and the Super efficient ride ops kept the line moving fast. Props to them.
Next, we went over to the Wild one, which i had a lot of fun on due to brittle seat belts (a bad thing for some people) and very loose lap bars, which improves the airtime.
The Wild One. Just your average 100 foot or so out and back coaster. What more can be said? A lot more, that's what. The lift hill sounds really cool, and it gives the feeling of a traditional coaster, which is a fun change up. The first drop is a stomach turner, which is good too. It then goes through/over a series of hills, and a big banked turnaround, and then MY FAVORITE PART OF THE RIDE, it ZOOMS through the skull on the Sea Coaster, sorta like a tunnel only different and better. I think there is a crossover but i dont know, but one more turn (which is fast for being at the end of the ride) and you come back to the station. Last year when i got on it, the cars smelled liek ouke, but not anymore! :) :) I used to diss this ride when i used to ride it, dont ask why, but i have grown to like it a lot, especially for being wooden, which (sue me) isnt my favorite kind of coaster.
Superman: Ride of Steel. I hardly ever get on ride pictures, but this ride had to be an exception, which is saying something. God, what can i say about Superman? It's just such a great ride. I have ridden Apollo's Chariot which is a great ride, and lots of people like, but i still like Superman better. One word. Airtime. Sit in the fourth seat to the back. You still get the airtime , pulled over the lift hill, and without the roughness of the back. Ride it when the sun is setting. Its something you wont forget. Speeding up that 200 foot lift hill, (i counted it takes about 33 seconds) you will want to look all around the park. Your over it all. And at the very top, whenr the clank clanking stops, take a breath and look at everything again, then look down. Straight down. The drop is incredible,, and this ride is gauranteed to make your mouth bone dry. The second hill you truly want to look to the left and right, and look at Batwing. You get a good view. The train then speeds very fast into a really cool helix that i love. The third hill that you experience next delvers AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME airtime and if you didnt tighten your lapbar a lot, this is very fun. Just dont fall out! ;) just kidding. Another helix (i think) :) and some awesome camel hump type hops. But beware: the dreaded camera is on these! ;) Smile real big :) for the camera and sa cheese! My friend had his hand in my face so i didnt get the greatest picture but hey! I dont really care. It was a fun ride!
Now the sad sad sad part :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( Apparently, a 3 hour line prevented me from riding Batwing, but next time i got i will suck it up and wait 3 hours to ride it. But this nearly the end of the day and we were running short on time (otherwise i would have rode it) and batwing didnt open until like 4 p.m. and the train got stuck at the top of the lift hill for like 5 min., so the lines were terrible:( oh well, maybe next time. So we went and lapped Superman a few more times and tried out new seats.
Oh and i almost forgot! Minderaser! Earlier on i got on minderaser. the end. Just kidding! You know i wouldnt end a review like that ;) OK
Minderaser. Your average inverted coaster, this ride has been way cloned! But i still like it. It has been fun having Minderaser and all, but SFA needs to get rid of it and replace it with a B&M inverted, because i LOVE Alpengeist, and if we ahd something like that, SFA would be a contender. The lift hill isnt that loud, but i loved the placement of this ride, otherwise i wouldnt have liked it. It is nestled right snug next to the woods, and you go right above the trees on the lift. A cool drop, some speed, and my favorite inversion, the Heart loop, make this not a half bad ride. I also like the corkscrew. This ride has been here since SFA was still adventure world and owned by Cal Ripken, until Six Flags bought the park from Cal. I really enjoyed this coaster then. Dont get me wrong it is still a good ride. O and by the way we enjoyed the KFC ;)
Ok thats the review of Steel! Please tell me how you liked it. :)
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I will soon be posting m review of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, so look out!
