Associated parks:
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We left Muskegon about 9am bound for Chicago and SFGAM on sunday and arrived in Gurnee about 3pm. Why didn't anyone tell me Chi town was a traffic nightmare?
Anyways we get to a Best Western about 3 miles from the park and unpack and I grilled chops right out in the parking lot and Baked Taters too :)
About 5:15pm we decided to head over to the park to ride some coasters and set a game plan for Monday. It wasn't too busy and first off was Viper.
Viper. Sorry folks but this wood nut has to have a woodie and Viper was his first of any of the Cyclone coasters. We lined up for the back seat and I was a little concerned beings everone says that SFOG and the CI Cyclone are rough in the back. Not to worry though, This is a fairly new version and the first and second drops are pretty lame but fun. The rest of the coaster was blast though full of pops of air and latteral air and I liked Viper alot. The themeing is great also. My only complaint about it was it was almost too smooth for a wooden coaster. Who built this version anyway? It has several different building techniques used in it's construction.
Next stop was Raging Bull. OK now I liked Nitro but it had no thrill factor to me and I wasn't anticipating Bull to be among my favorites after riding it. Wrong, Bull has several airtime moments and drops that let you feel them. The drop into the tunnel was great also. The line was all the way out to the entrance but not using Q's and moved almost as fast as you normally walk so I liked bull. Not a great coaster but I liked it :)
Next stop was Deja Vu. It was running, Really it was! We get in line and Ed struck and it went down for the night. The security gaurd said it was up and down every few rides all day and this time they just closed it for the night and tested a bit.
Next up. American Eagle forward. Is it me or dose this coaster just plain suck? The maintence is so bad the steel was frayed bellow the track pins and every brake and turn on it was on full stop. Run it right or tear it down!
Next up was the standup coaster. Rough little bugger isn't it?
We then get on SFGAMs version of the Monster named Crawler. This thing is weird and perhaps the worst version of the Spider/Octopus/Monster types I have ever ridden but it was good capasity and differnt so I'll chalk up a different experience here.
We next rode SFGAM's version of the Calypso. Different in type but not ride from the old standard version. This one had 5 sets of cars with 5 cars each instead of the normal 4/4 arangement. Anyhow it was nice to get a insane ride on one of these as both CP and LL both have theirs toned down.
SHOCKWAVE! It was getting about 8:40 when we got back to Shockwave. Have you ever ridden a coaster that when its over, You and your co-rider look at each other and say WOW? Shockwave is nothing more than a bigger arrow looper but WOW this thing is insane! I had ridden Greta at SFGADV last year and I liked Greta but somehow Shockwave just chewed up every other ARROW I had ridden and spit it out. Shockwaves first three loops are so intense I can see how people might black out. Not your standard 30mph arrow loops. Of special note was all the reinforcing in the first three loops. Also of special interest was the fast turn into the midcourse that I flat out loved. Anyhow there wasn't a wait and we rode untill they closed the park at 9pm with 7 rides without getting out of our seats :)
Monday: We get up and find we are up and ready to go at 6am and only three miles from the park, Don't ask me what happened but a miss set alarm clock and a hour behind had us all screwed up. We ate breakfast and were at wallyworld at 730am waiting for the gates to open at 9.
OK we get in the park and inside. Warning SFGAM's metal detectors pick up anything and everything is searched including inside of open cigarette packs.
Sitting around the fountain pool looking at the carousel was not bad for a hour of nothingness but the park opened the ropes at 10am and we were off to ride some of the coasters and rides we hadn't the night before.
Whizzer. Is it me or is this fun? Anton had it right and what was really weird was the spiral powered lift :)
Viper again, We rode viper probably 8 times, Can you tell we like it?
Raging Bull Ok we had to ride this a few more times and as I said, The line moves about as fast as you can walk so Bull that wasn't and BUll it is :)
OK, Rob had seen Deja Vu testing and upon exiting Bull he seen a person in the backseat so we were off to Deja Vu. I talked to many over the past couple of days that had been to the park many times and hadn't ridden it and many more enthusiast that told me not to get my hopes up even if it opened that it breaks down alot.
Deja Vu: We get in line and a security guy says folks go ride something else, Deja Vu is not open yet. About 1/3 of the line left and just at that moment they opened the line so we were standing under the cobra roll when the line got to the station. 7 rides later we were in the second seats of the front row ready for our ride! Woohoo! Well, I can tell you this, The smaller versions are more intense but in the front I loved the backwards drop of the back spike! Good ride if they get it working reliably. Im just glad we got to ride :)
Shockwave again, Did I mention we love this ride?
Ok, we did the rest of the coasters including American Eagle backwards which was a tad better than forward but still pathetic for a coaster of it's size and looks.
We left SFGAM about 3pm headed for Altoona Iowa and arrived at the Adventureland campground just as the man was locking the office door. Whew! just made it. The carousel music is left on in the park all night so we camped out to that :)
Chuck, 7/24/02. Next TR Adventureland and the UP steam engine trip.
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Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193
Second, Viper was designed and built completely in-house.
Third (and most importantly), you think American Eagle sucks, but loves Shockwave?!? More specifically, you like the turn into the midcourse?!? Now, I like Shockwave. MUCH more than GASM-II, but that turn is argueably the worst part of the ride (at least that's the part most people compalin about). It is REALLY suprising to hear (read) you say (type) that.
Fourth, I'm suprised no mention of Demon or Batman: The Original.
Fifth, sounds like the trip was overall good!
lata,
jeremy
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"To get into this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
2Hostyl said:
First off, it never ceases to amaze me that people think Chicago traffic is so bad. If that is your true feeling, NEVER drive in the Capital Metro Area. Not only do they have traffic here, nobody seems to be able to drive.Thats just it, Nobody seemed like they knew what a gas pedal was.
Second, Viper was designed and built completely in-house.
Cool, Well done SF.
Third (and most importantly), you think American Eagle sucks, but loves Shockwave?!? More specifically, you like the turn into the midcourse?!? Now, I like Shockwave. MUCH more than GASM-II, but that turn is argueably the worst part of the ride (at least that's the part most people compalin about). It is REALLY suprising to hear (read) you say (type) that.
Dude, It is a element that could be painful but I braced for it everytime. I love intense coasters and Shockwave is full of intensity. That turn into the Midcourse is intense to the max. :)
Fourth, I'm suprised no mention of Demon or Batman: The Original.
Batman was down both days and I did mention Demon as the standup that is rough. Demon was ok but I am not a standup fan and probably never will be.
Fifth, sounds like the trip was overall good!
I liked SFGAM better than some of the other SF parks I have visited. It is large and in charge and has a circular layout without all the dead ends most SF parks I have visited have.
jeremy
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"To get into this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
Chuck
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Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193
Oh heck, Yeah we rode Demon once :)
I kinda liked the theaming and tunnels. It also wasn't very rough, Good ride right across from Deja Vu.
Sorry Jeremy and everyone. Im still trying to recoup after driving 2500 miles with 6 parks in the mix
Chuck
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Charles Nungester
Lesourdsville Lake, The great American amusement park opens the season June 6th Thurs-Sun every week. Park phone is (513)539-2193
Charles Nungester said:
We then get on SFGAMs version of the Monster named Crawler. This thing is weird and perhaps the worst version of the Spider/Octopus/Monster types I have ever ridden but it was good capasity and differnt so I'll chalk up a different experience here.
How can you say that about the East River Crawler?! Crawler is *much* more fun than rides similar to it. It's faster and much more intense with fun little pops of airtime every time an arm reaches the top. Crawler is awesome, and my favorite flat ride @ SFGAm. I hope it never takes Sky Whirl's route, which was my number 1 flat. That would be a very sad day. :(
*** This post was edited by Sky Whirl Guy on 6/24/2002. ***
I still cant get used to the fact that it has been re-named "East River Crawler".
I still refer to it as the "Lobster".
And yes, it is one of the better flat rides at the park.
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""To be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, You got to beat the man""!!!
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