One word of advice,never use the directions off the SF website.It took us four hours to get to SFA from Central NJ and that was a suprise because,the directions were very misleading.
Upon entering the park we asked the parking booth lady if we could squeak in with our SFgadv parking pass and she said no,but,she was very pleasant about it and we kind of expected to pay for parking anyway.We arrived at 10 am and the front entrance to the park was very nice.We studied our park map and stood in line with the section of people we figured were going to make the mad dash for Batwing.
At 10:25 the rope/tape was dropped and we walked very fast along with the group of others who were bee lining for Batwing.We couldn't help but drool at the site of Superman :) .We get to Batwing and they are still testing but,10 minutes and we are walking through the queue and as we reach the stairs a ride op directs us to the opposite side station.We go down the stairs then up the stairs into the station house and,we were the first ones there so,Hubby insisted we board the first row.
Batwing: We get all strapped in to these very new to us restraints and,how neat they were!The vest was very cool but,i pressed it down so tight i could barely breathe,lol.Lucky us,everyone boards,the restraints are checked and,we are the first ride of the day.Like two kids with a brand new toy,Hubby and i had a grin from ear to ear when they reclined our seats before exiting the station.We hit the lift hill and the sun is beating down on our faces but,all we could say was wow!
We leave then lift then,Pow! We are flipped over onto our bellies.Abruptly falling into the restraints made the adrenaline rush in ten fold.The entire ride all i could say was, wow! I was breathless and the g forces made my eye's feel like they were going to blow up and fall out of the sockets.My husband's approval of this ride was so prominent as the entire ride all i could hear was Holy Crap,this ride is awesome!LOL.I am not the seasoned rider to get into to much detail and on top of that,i think i was so blown away i didn't know if i was coming or going.Batwing is a totally awesome and unique experience for me.I pray to the coaster gods we get one at my homepark somewhere in the future.This ride alone was worth every minute of the long drive :) .Next up...
S:ROS... We headed rite for this in case the line got to long because, the queue for Batwing was gigantic as we left the exit.This was my very first Intamin Hyper and i was drooling over the sight of it.We decided first to take the backseat and after a short 10 minute wait,we boarded our train.I was a little bit suprised over seatbelts along with lapbars and will admitt this put my curiosity at a higher level.What were they trying to tell me?? LOL.The lift was quieter then the other two hyper lifts i had ventured up but,it was cool to look to my left and see nothing but the ground below.Down the first drop and,Oh lord! The speed was relentless.I thought the drop was mighty intense but,going up the first hill after a very speedy turn,it almost was as though you were going up that hill completely vertical! Over this hill the ejector air was prominent and made me respect Intamin for throwing in seatbelts although i felt completely safe with the lapbar.The helix blew my cheeks out as if i stuck a high powered fan directly in my mouth.The headchopper coming out of the Helix made both me and,my hubby duck.
We looked at each other and laughed but then,i got a chill in my spine as we crested the top of the second hill and i felt violently ejected from my seat.Going into the second helix had the same strong g effect as the first and again,going up into the first hill for the camelbacks,i was ejected from my seat again.I did get nice air off the return camelbacks.Hubby and i exited very impressed but,it didn't make me think any less of the B&M smoothness.I like both designers and i was extremely happy that this was another new experience.We saw the line was still short so,we waited another 25 minutes for the front seat on this and,i have to say i prefer the front because,i can totally appreciate the speed from the front seat :) Excellent coaster and another that left us feeling the four hour ride was very worth it.Next up..Jokers Jynx.
JOKERS JYNX....Looking at this from the ground,i could tell i would need to brace myself in a big way but,It was differant from the LIM at my homepark so,of course i had to ride it!The launch was good as i expected and,the constant change in direction left my mind boggled once we started to run through the course of inversions.I did a good job of preventing some major headbanging.It seemed as though the ride totally gave up it's speed once we hit the second inversion but,it was still fun and,hubby and i agreed it is a decent coaster.Next up...Wild One.
WILD ONE.... We were very excited about the two woody's here because,SFGadv only has one and we all know the story with it.Wild one laying itself dead center across the park was pretty cool.We waited at least 40 minutes for this and i'm guessing for two reasons,first off,Two face wasn't open yet and,secondly,The ride ops kept having to recheck everyone to make sure they also had seatbelts secured.We boarded the second from the first seat and headed for the lift hill.Rite away i could tell SFA took good care of their woodies.This was pretty smooth going up the lift and,throughout the duration of the ride.Hubby and i loved it! The headchopper caught us off guard and,going through part of the Typhoon Seacoaster was pretty neat!We got very good Air off each hill and the ending helix was alot of fun.Upon extiting they made the announcement that Two Face was open so,next up,Two Face...
TWO FACE....I have ridden a boomerrang with the same layout only it had a sitdown train so,this was going to be interesting.We waited 25 minutes and hubby and i took the last and second to last trains so we could face each other.It was tough to get it to work out this way but,it was fun and we had a blast making faces at each other during the duration of the ride.A little rough but,only two instances where we hit our heads and,it wasn't even that bad because,we made the necessary precautions to try and avoid any pain.Hubby and i agreed even though it is very short,it is pretty cool to look at each other and,that alone made the coaster fun.
Next we knew it was time to venture to the other side of the park.We made one wrong turn and hit a dead end but,quickly found our way over there.The park at this point was extremely crowded and because we had a four hour ride home we decided we would just hit the coasters.I did want to try Iron Eagle but,i was afraid of what the lines were going to be like for the last two coasters if i had waited any longer to get to that side.Typhoon seacoaster looked to be a blast but,next to Batwing and S:ROS it probably had the third longest line in the park :(.We finally find the entrance to Roar.
ROAR..We waited 25 minutes for Roar,not to bad at all and i was thinking maybe i should have tried Iron eagle but,oh well.We boarded the last seat on the black Train.I was shocked at the amount of reading material that was staring rite at me when i sat down in the train.Why the heck do people have to add their graffiti to the coasters!! This was the only thing that upset me the whole day.You do see Graffiti at every park but,this was the first time i had seen on the actual coaster itself.
We dispatched and again,SFA takes great care of their woodies.Roar was very impressive and,the first time i road a woodie of this kind.Not your typical out and back and dummy me had my hands on the lapbar while hubby had his up in the air,Show Off!! LOL.We both loved Roar and thought it was a great ride.The constant change of directions kept us guessing and hubby and i loved it :) We want One!! Hear me SF?? LOL.Lastly we headed for Mind Eraser...
MIND ERASER...Upon finding our way to mind eraser and getting a very good look at it i realize i have been on something very similar before.The great Noreaster in Wildwood NJ is a near clone of this coaster.Knowing this we kind of knew it would take alot to avoid a headache.
We waited almost 40 minutes and entered the train towards the front since we figured going to the back could be asking for punishment.We braced ourselves and experienced very little banging so i am thinking this must be younger then the Great Noreaster or,it just was a little bit smoother.A fun coaster and i never had hard feelings about the headbaging on Noreaster so,i knew i would still enjoy this and would have regretted passing it up.
Overall to end this TR,a great day at SFA and i'm sorry i didn't experience the entire park but,Hubby and i are on the old side so we were pretty tired and not looking forward to the long ride home.I took lot's of pictures for my coaster scrapbook and can't wait to get my film developed.I would say that Batwing,S:ROS and,the two very well kept woodies made this park worth every minute of the four hour drive.Each ride was a new experience and i'm thankful we got the oppertunity to try them.I will most definately return next year and,i am sorry i didn't meet any of the buzzers who i saw were there at the same time so,maybe next year :)
~*Rickyswmn*~
*** This post was edited by Rickyswmn on 7/29/2001. ***
Nice trip report. I had to work yesterday outdoors, and I figured the park would be slammed based on the nice weather. I'm glad you enjoyed Batwing, S:ROS, Wild One, and Roar. I really believe that it gives us SFA homeparkers someting to be proud of. The only thing I would disagree with you about is Two Face. I've never found it rough. It's a shame you didn't get to try Typhoon Seacoaster, but I understand the avoidance of long lines. What was wrong with the directions?
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Batwing-Bow Down
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 7/29/2001. ***
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 7/29/2001. ***
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan on 7/29/2001. ***
Go to mapquest.com and use directions from their site. I use that site a lot.
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Current Favorite Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Incredible Hulk, The
Did you take 495/95S to 214-Central Ave. or did you take 695 to 97 to 301 to Central Ave.?
We took the latter of the directions you posted down.There were two things we found misleading about the SF directions.One was that exit 7 for I97 south was actually exit 4 off 695 and,we were a little confused with 3/301.We didn't know you had to take 3 to 301 but we did it by accident and still made it there without getting lost,lol.We took 495 to I95 back which seemed easier to us.
As for Two face,it wasn't really rough i agree,i didn't mean to sound like it would hurt anyone i just got a tiny bit jerked side to side.We did have fun on it and,it is a good coaster :) Thanks for reading my report.
~*Rickyswmn*~
I can understand the confusion with 3/301. They should mark on the website that it says 301 to Richmond. It is easy to miss the turn off under the bridge. When 97 first splits off to the left, it's actually a bypass for 3/301 (this is the way I normally go). If you continue on rt. 3, there's a lot of strip malls and traffic lights, so that's why they take you the other way. But it probably would be less confusing for out-of-towners to keep going straight on rt. 3 which turns into 301. You could've also taken 95S. all the way to Rt.214 and then gone east. But, I would never advise this way during rush hour traffic on a weekday.
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Batwing-Bow Down
great report.I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to my home park.Too bad you didn't get to ride all of the flat rides,we do have quite a nice selection but at least you may be able to on your next visit.hopefully we may add another coaster to our line up for your riding pleasure.I'll be at SFA next weekend 8/4/01.then 2 weeks later at PKD,I hope to catch a ride on hypersonic xlc. how's your home park SFgadv?I would like to go up there some time myself?
Batwing Fan SFA said: how's your home park SFgadv?I would like to go up there some time myself?
Well let's just say like my trip to your homepark,you will experience a few differant things.Whether or not you will like what you experience is a totally differant story,lol.I love my homepark but,i am also used to everything there so,it's comfortable to me and,i know the tricks to avoiding headaches on certain coasters.
I went to your homepark with a very open mind and,i had a great time and the coasters i experienced for the first time were very enjoyable.I am a glutten for new experiences.Let me know if and when you decide to visit Sfgadv,i will make a big effort to meet up with you and give you a tour.If i can't make it,i will leave you with my tips and tricks :)
~*Rickyswmn*~
Rickyswmn said:
I went to your homepark with a very open mind and,i had a great time and the coasters i experienced for the first time were very enjoyable.
That is a very good strategy there that I wish more people would have. It seems like so often people go into a park with a preconceived idea (usually "low" expectations) that will taint their visit, no matter how good it may be.
I found this out first hand this past weekend with a visit to Dorney Park. All of 'negative' things I have heard from some Hershey fans (my homepark) I have heard about Dorney I found to be unfounded, just as all of the negative things about Herhsey I have heard form some Dorney fans I know are not true.
Glad to hear that you kept an open mind about SFA. That is what I am planning to do when I visit there... probably not until next season (time this summer is running out very fast).
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
SLFAKE said:That is a very good strategy there that I wish more people would have. It seems like so often people go into a park with a preconceived idea (usually "low" expectations) that will taint their visit, no matter how good it may be.
Me too,i wish more people had an open mind with every trip they make.I to watch people go back and forth an point out every bad point about a Rival park they have visited but,when it comes to defending your homepark people are relentless here and i believe it can spoil someone else's visit if someone else takes everything to heart.
We all seem to forget that what happens to one at a park doesn't always happen to someone else.Every day is differant and when the place is your homepark,you get the oppertunity to experience it at it's best and worst times.I have not written many Trip reports but,there is one thing i can promise,if i have a bad time i will choose the old option of,if you can't say something nice about it,don't say anything at all.
I do not want to be responsible for swaying someone else from visiting a park when it could mean they may possibly miss out on having a better visit then i did and totally love every coaster experience the park has to offer.I wrote this Trip report with genuine passion for what i had experienced and,i am hoping everyone can have the chance to look at SFA the same way i did.
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~*Rickyswmn*~
