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About 6 people ran to KK, I walked at a fast pace but didn't run. I got into the station and people didn't realize you could line up for the 2nd train (only 1 side was being used). There was a single rider waiting for the front row so I walked right onto the front row. The problem was they weren't loading the trains as there weren't enough people and they waited about 3 minutes to fill the trains. I never thought the ride would be that empty that they would need to do that.
The launch was a lot more intense than I was expecting and was a little too much for me. It was an ok ride and I'm glad I finally rode it but I don't think I'll be riding it again, at least not for a while.
I went to Superman next but it was closed so I went to GASM, 2nd car, 1st row, not that rough. Superman opened and it was a walk on except for the front. 2 trains were running and I think this is one ride where I'd actually prefer 1 train operations. It took forever to load the trains and sitting on the brake run was very uncomfortable. I didn't go for another ride because of that.
I got my pass processed with a 1 minute wait, they had at least 10 people processing passes and they were fast, much better than at Dorney with only 2 - 3 people with it taking longer to process the pass there as well.
It started to rain, but the coasters were still running. RT was only running the right side but with 2 trains. In the station, I saw someone with a coupon book, I then realized they never gave me my SP coupon booklet.
Medusa didn't open until 12:00 for some reason so RMT was next, another walk on with 2 trains running. I decided to wait for Medusa to open, it was only about 10 minutes, and people were lining up outside the queue. Maybe 30 people were in line, I was 4th in line and 2 kids tried to cut, by getting in line behind me. The people behind me put a stop to that and told them to go to the end of the line, I couldn't believe someone would try to cut a line that was maybe 2 minutes long once it started moving. Got on the 1st train of the day in the front row. The Safari looked very empty from the lift, I only saw 2 or 3 cars.
At this point it was starting to rain a lot more so I stopped at the Season Pass processing center to get my coupon book and went to Nitro. 1 train wait for the front, but they shut the ride down despite it stopping raining a few minutes later. It was sunny out and the ride was still closed. People were starting to get annoyed saying stuff like "now that they have our money, they don't care about getting the ride re-opened." When questioned about why the ride wasn't opened when it was sunny, they were told that the other side of the park wasn't cleared yet and they couldn't only open half the rides (why not?).
Then the op on the microphone says "Guess what guys?" Everyone gets excited and thinks the ride is opening but she then says "Nitro is still down due to weather." No one thought it was funny. About 15 minutes later the ride finally opened. Great ride as always.
Skull Mountain also was running 2 trains. You can see the track very well and they had the sound effects going off on the ride and there is a skull inside the ride I never saw or noticed before.
BBLTT was fun for a family coaster especially when you sit in the middle and slide around since there is no seatbelt or seat
dividers
BTR was next, also 2 trains running. The coaster was so forceful that after 2 rides I had enough, I know everyone loves the older B&M's that are so forceful but I prefer Talon and Great Bear that are less intense
I went back for a few more re-rides on some coasters. I was going to finish the day with another ride on GASM but they closed all the coasters due to lightning 20 miles away. I didn't feel like waiting for possibly 30+ minutes so I left.
Overall it was great with little to no lines but there were a few problems
I didn't like everyone trying to sell me stuff. When I got to the parking booth, before I had a chance to say I wanted season parking, they tried to sell me preferred parking. At the ticket gate, when the person saw I had a season pass that needed to be processed, she suggested twice that I upgrade to a 3 park pass with Hurricane Harbor. Then right past the gate, 3 different photographers tried to stop me for a picture.
Secondly, the locker policy is horrible. People were getting annoyed all day. At SUF, someone in front of me had a bottle of water and was told they had to throw it out when they get to the platform. They said while walking through the line there must be a place to put it in the station, they were wrong. All day you heard announcements that if you had loose articles in the station, you have to get a locker and go to the end of the line
They allow you to leave flip flops and sandals in the station but this slows down loading and some people tried to leave regular shoes which apparently isn't allowed. At Medusa, someone was already buckled in and was told that because their shoes had backs to them, they had to be worn despite the person not wanting to wear them. This caused stacking because the restraints in part of the train had to be rechecked.
There were employees at the Flash Pass entrances for the coasters. I didn't see 1 person using Flashpass today and it would have been nice to see those workers checking restraints instead as the coasters only had 2 people checking restraints. It also didn't make sense to have part of the train of Skull Mountain roped off for Flashpass with no one using it, especially later in the day when it had a 2 - 3 train wait (not that it's a bad wait but why not load the whole train)
Finally, the lack of non coaster rides really stood out today. The parachutes were closed almost all day and the ferris wheel and sky ride were closed all day. Add in the closed water rides and there were barely half a dozen non coaster rides to choose from. Not good when you wanted a break from the coasters. It was 75 and humid, I'm sure the log flume would have been popular today.
Ride Count:
KK, 1
SUF, 1
BTR, 2
Nitro, 2
Medusa, 2
RMT, 2
RT Right, 1
GASM, 1
Skull Mountain, 2
BBLTT, 1 *** Edited 4/12/2008 10:38:51 PM UTC by YoshiFan*** *** Edited 4/12/2008 11:13:55 PM UTC by YoshiFan***
Here's To Shorter Lines & Longer Trip Reports!
There were employees at the Flash Pass entrances for the coasters. I didn't see 1 person using Flashpass today and it would have been nice to see those workers checking restraints instead as the coasters only had 2 people checking restraints. It also didn't make sense to have part of the train of Skull Mountain roped off for Flashpass with no one using it, especially later in the day when it had a 2 - 3 train wait (not that it's a bad wait but why not load the whole train)
the flashpass employees are vendors working for Lo-Q... they don't know the rides and are not SF employees...
If It Ain't Broke, It Must Be Fixed
YoshiFan said:
I tried the test seat and couldn't get the lab bar low enough for the green light to go on. I'm hoping in a few months I'll be able to ride as last year I couldn't even get the seatbelt buckled but was able to this year.
But isn't ET's test seat like Millennium Force's?? i.e. the test seat is WAY more restrictive and not realistic to the *actual* train's belt and lap bar restraint??
tigellinus said:But isn't ET's test seat like Millennium Force's?? i.e. the test seat is WAY more restrictive and not realistic to the *actual* train's belt and lap bar restraint??
I haven't heard that and it would be nice if it's true, but I'm not willing to take a chance until I lose some more weight since I don't want to go up to the station, not fit and have everyone looking at me when I have to walk off plus I have read more than 1 instance of people being made fun of for that and that's something I really don't want to hear.
But for my situation, I will say that I'm no Abercrombie model or anything by a mile, and while I am 6'2" (and height does help with weight) I usually have a "winter weight" of around 230 with a 40" inch waist, and last spring to prepare for riding ET for the first time (since I read on Wiki about it being designed for a 36" waist!!), I definitely slimmed down to under 200 and a 38" waist, and even then was still concerned about whether I would make it!?!
However, to my great surprise I actually discovered I *EASILY* was able to fit at 195-200 with being a 38"!!! While I think that made for a better ride, I honestly think I would have been fine without ANY slimming down!!
But obviously I have no idea what you look like, but it was way more generous than I thought, and that's when someone I talked to from a GAdv board claimed the test seat for ET was a little more restrictive as a precaution.
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