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This is my second trip to SFDL this summer and I think this trip was better than the last for some reason, maybe its because it was cooler out and I don’t like the heat, or maybe it was because I got 2 rides on SROS instead of just 1.
It didn’t look too crowded when we pulled into the parking lot, lot was only about half full, so we bought our tickets for 9.99 thanks to a coupon, and I decided to head for superman first because I really needed to get another ride on it.
This turned out to be an interesting experience, as I was waiting in line, the line kept getting longer and longer, and by the time I got up to the stairway into the q, they were sending ops and maintenance people down into the q to explain to the people they needed to fill each row in the q instead of making a line on the end of it, and try to calm the crowd. I think the people in line were angry because they had the red train ready to go and they weren’t running it, the train was fully visible for people waiting in line, and a small riot could have broken out easily. Also the line was filling up all the way to the end of the q and past that, and when I went into the q the q wasn’t even halfway full.
So after I escaped an incredibly long line, I chose to ride in the front of the second car. The line was getting really bad so they were separating people from their party and sticking them with the single riders, forcing the train full to accommodate more people. So the ride started, and I put my hands up for the drop and realized that was a lot of fun, about halfway through the ride the guy next to me pointed out the fact that the lady in the car in front of us was losing her wig and had to hold onto it the whole way through the ride (quite amusing).
On my second SROS ride, I chose to sit in the back of the seat. (Note: second train now running). This was not a wise decision and I will stick to the front of cars from now on. I was on the blue train and in the second car, back seat, left seat. (sorry didn’t know how else to say this). It was much tighter in the back, and the most notable difference was the fact that the seatbelt was about 6-10 inches shorter than the ones in the front seat, so if you are in any way a large sized person, be aware of this! These seatbelts have really unusual buckles where you have to squeeze in the sides and pull up on them in order to get them unbuckled, the seatbelts also felt kinda flimsy to me for some reason.
After my ride I headed for the Wave Swinger and Raging Seas (Mack Seesturmbahn). The wave swinger was much better than last time as I took an outside seat and this caused me to bump into people’s chairs less. Also I don’t know why but the red colored seats seemed a little bit larger and also had a longer seatbelt. Later on I took a ride in one of the yellow/white seats and the seat was a much tighter fit with no slack in the seatbelt at all.
Then we went on the Seesturmbahn because my mom really likes this ride and so do I, its really unique and cool, but they need to give more than a 20 second ride cycle on this (all the other rides are of acceptable length). Also they need to do something about the 1 ½ person seatbelts on this ride, and the fact that the belts have a plastic foldover buckle doesn’t help either. I really hate these belts cause they open up constantly every time we go on this ride, and I have seen the belts fly off people on the ride and hang out of the car for the rest of the ride.
After this we headed over to the Tin Lizzy’s which are the antique cars at SFDL. Fun ride as usual, I really like these antique cars.
Then I decided to ride the go-karts. Turned out to be a good ride and they only cost $3.50 which is a lot cheaper than most go-kart tracks around here. These cars I noticed are J&J amusements single and double karts. I wouldn’t recommend riding in the double karts because they seemed to die constantly throughout rides and also seemed quite slow. Also, I noticed at least 2 different types of restraints on these go-karts. The single person cars for the most part had 3 point harnesses, the strap didn’t really fasten between your legs, it was more like under the steering wheel part, weird. A couple of the single person cars had 4 point harnesses as well, which is what the double cars had, I don’t think the double cars had the 3 point harnesses at all. Also I don’t know if these particular 4-point harnesses are meant to fasten across your chest or around your stomach, but it seemed to go either way, some people had it way up on their chest and some had the belts on their stomach. Also, I could barely fasten the harness in my car because the buckle was sticking or something, it was just a standard push button buckle, also it looked like the padding was like, melted to the actual straps, so the one side of the harness wouldn’t adjust.
After this I went to take a ride on Viper, (old arrow looping coaster), and I was pleasantly surprised to find about a 5 min wait due to the fact they were running 2 trains J . I do not like the trains on Viper, they make your back hurt for some reason, also there is like no room to put your legs. The headbanging wasn’t severe for me, cause I held my head out between the restraints, but I heard a lot of other people complaining about headbanging on this ride. It’s a fun coaster but needs better trains.
Then I headed to the section of the park with the Haymaker(lifting paratrooper) and the Enterprise. I took 2 rides on the enterprise as I really, really like this particular enterprise and I think it gives a great ride with a ton of g’s. I took a ride on the Haymaker because lifting paratroopers are really cool I think. A manufacturer named Heinz-Fahtz makes both of these rides. I know nothing about this company, if someone knows anything about this company, email me or tell me somehow.
Well, I didn’t really do any of the Frightfest attractions, I just wanted to get my end of the season rides in, but the really cool thing they had was human characters walking around scaring people. The costumes on these people looked really awesome too, the costumes and makeup looked very well done and realistic.
The park seemed to get even more crowded at night, so I was glad to get there about 30 min after opening, so I could enjoy the day and leave by night.
If I get ambitious I will write an end-of-season reflection on the season if I have time.
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