TR - SFMM - 8-17-01 - Lil' Crowded

Associated parks:
None

Ok, here we go, my first TR. Before I start I have a disclaimer. My home park is Cedar Point so my views are based off the best amusement park.

When my family woke up Friday morning we knew it was going to be crowded, but since the vacation is done tomorrow (Sunday) we went for it.

The drive itself wasn't bad, a little crowded on the 5 but oh well. As we went around the turn and saw X the first time my jaw dropped. That thing is huge!!!!!! There were 2 or 3 workers in a cherry picker working on something before the turnaround. Maybe trim brakes?

Anyways we had to park in the very far parking and caught the tram to the front gate to get our tickets using a coupon that gave us about half off. The dissappointing part was that we saw S:TE was closed down when we entered. The line to get the tickets wasn¡¦t bad, but we saw beyond the booths there was a large crowd..and couldn¡¦t figure out what the holdup was, as we saw people in the park. Then we realized they were metal detectors. I¡¦m sorry but that needs to be changed. That was the second longest line I waited in all day! It ended up being about 40 min. or so in line, which is outrageous. I plan to look up if that's invasion of privacy.

After we got through the line we headed to Batman: The Ride. The line was almost nothing (5-10 min max). That was a great ride, very smooth and overall a great ride. After that, we headed for an immediate re-ride but found out that it broke down about 2 trains after we got off. So, feeling disappointed we headed to Riddler's Revenge. The line was a little longer, but not by much (25 min). The ride itself was also another very nice ride, I really liked it !

Then getting off, we saw that the bumper cars were close, and couldn't pass them up . Feeling hot and sweaty we ran off to the Roaring Rapids to get a cool down. That was the longest wait that we had all day at about an hour; the worst part was I didn't get very wet...oh well! It was about noon so we headed back to a place that had overpriced pizza and ate there. Then looking for something relaxing we rode Goldrusher twice. It's a nice little mine ride coaster with a nice helix at the end and a bunch of head/arm choppers at the beginning.

Then, up for something a little more exciting we headed for Ninja. The wait was about 25 min. and was actually a nice ride (very much like Iron Dragon), except the end was kind of disappointing. Going up a lift at the end just is a little..well boring. Then seeing that S: TE was back up we ran over there. After waiting about 30 min outside we got inside in the nice A/C. Since only one side was open the line was moving slowly. When we were about 2 trains from getting in the dreaded announcement came over ¨We're sorry but there are minor technical difficulties..we have no ETA.¨ Then after waiting about 5 min to see if it would re-open quickly we got out of line and took the ride down the mountain.

Feeling up for some adventure, we headed to Goliath, which only had about 30 min wait. The little water sprayers were most excellent and kept us cool. The ride was incredible! I did notice that the midcourse brakes were very hard, but I¡¦m guessing that happens to reduce the G's on the final helix. Speaking of the final helix...that was incredible! I almost blacked out that many, but it still rocked. Then seeing as Batman was open we ran over there for another quick ride. That's when I noticed the VERY poor capacity that was happening. I clocked dispatch intervals at about 2:10 to 2:32. That is literally the length of the ride! The employees were just slacking out beyond belief.

Then we headed to see the Batman and Robin show which was ok..a little cheesy but still nice. Feeling exhausted we headed to our hotel.

Some overall thoughts, a nice park with great coasters but the employees need to pick the pace up and Six Flags has to give them intervals for dispatch. Also, I did see a few people get in front of me with FastLane, but actually it wasn't that bad.

-Matt

EDIT : Adding something I forgot.

*** This post was edited by Fornoth on 8/18/2001. ***

*** This post was edited by Fornoth on 9/5/2001. ***

The metal detectors are actually a security thing but they do move slow. I know when I went they only had three of them open so there was a slow moving line expecially when it was the last day of school.

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Go To:
http://www.geocities.com/socalcoasters/

There are metal detectors at SFEG.

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"Duff Man Says... Ohhhhh Yaaaaa!"
Current Favorite Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Dueling Dragons (Ice)

The metal detectors ARE NOT an invation of privacy. They tell you they are there and if you don't want to go through you don't have to go in. Also the park is private proporty so as long as it doesn't cause any phisical harm they can have whatever rules they want.

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Cameron Willis
Dr. Doolittle 2: "So young, so angry. Damn that rap music!" *** This post was edited by CoasterCameron on 8/19/2001. ***

I would seriously rather have metal detectors than be a risk of being shot by a gun or stabbed with a knife. It can happen anywhere and a few Six Flags parks incorporate these detectors to prevent that. An additional security feauture.

About Batman capacity: Since there is no midcourse brakes, they have to wait until the other train is done with the whole course and off the final breaks.

Sounds like you had a pretty good time.

No Viper?
No Revolution?
No Wood?
You missed out on some pretty good coasters if you missed those four.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

Why didnt you ride all the coasters if it was your first time.

Dah geese I hope this wasn't your only trip to SFMM on your vacation! It's a crime you missed S:TE, Viper and Reveloution! It would of also been cool to ride the woodies!

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Steel top 5
1.S:TE
2.Stelth
3.B:TR
4. Riddler's Revenge
5. Goliath

I think when some die-hard CP fans go to SFMM, they tend to look for things going wrong, but I didn't overly see that in this TR. Bravo!

You missed some of the best coasters in the park, and instead saw the poorly done Batman show and rode the rapids ride and the bumper cars? How early did you leave?

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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC

First of all, I went mountain climbing the next day...so we left about 7:00 and my feet were so dead from all kinds of vacation fun.

Also, I was hoping to go on the woodies but by the time I wanted to go onto them my family was almost dead. The reason for seeing the Batman show was that my feet were killing me. If I had known about the mountain climb thing (Oriental Express maybe?) it would have saved my feet a lot of work. Now I am home from my vacation...but I plan to go back around Christmas (short lines? :))!

The thing about the metal detectors wasn't to say they aren't needed. The point was that it was my second longest line period. The problem I saw there was that the employees were moving a little slow. Not to try to put anyone down, but in my opinion if Cedar Point had done that things may have moved faster. The only solution I can come up with is...add another enterance near Goliath or under Colassus. That way the capacity would be increased.

About the low capacity on Batman....you have plenty of blocks for it to go quicker.

The second train could be dispatched while the first was in course...it just can't leave the lift. Yes, I did have a nice time...the coasters were great! :)

How much quicker? 10 seconds, 15 maybe? From the top of the lift to the 1st brakes is about 30 seconds. From 1st brakes to 2nd brakes takes about 10 seconds. Why take the chance of forcing the train to stop on the lift when the next block is only a few seconds away?

Besides, usually the problem is not the employees, it's the guests who don't follow the rules and are forced to get up, grab their shoes then get back on. THAT causes more slow loading than the employees.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

The stacking was this bad...the train that left had reached the station before the trian in there had left! And it was the employees...there were 2 of them checking restraints.

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