What traffic? SoCal TR 1/2-8 (long)
Associated parks:
None
So here it is, my very first trip report, about my very first (and second) visits to KBF and SFMM. Arrived at the luxurious La Mirada Holiday Inn at about 10:30am on Thursday, January 2. Unfortunately, my friend and I were not able to check in early, so we headed out to lunch and in search of a mall. We were in desperate need of some shorts and t-shirts as the weather forcasts promised a long stretch of unusually warm days, and we had only packed long sleeves and jeans. Consulted the AAA travel guide and found that the Buena Park Mall was close so we headed in that direction. Bonus, we passed Knott’s Berry Farm on our right...I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me as I ooh-ed and ahh-ed Xcelerator. Buena Park Mall was a huge disappointment, not much more than a messy Sears store (with no shorts to be found), but it looks like there are promising developments for the area, with a Kohl’s and Wal-Mart on the way. Enjoyed a few more views of KBF from the parking lot, then headed to our hotel. Later that evening enjoyed much better shopping (but still no shorts!) at the Cerritos Mall. That evening’s other discovery was the Cold Stone Creamery...YUM! Check out their website at www.coldstonecreamery.com , I’m thinking about buying a franchise.
Actually visited KBF on Friday 1/3. Could sense Moosh’s aura in the park, but don’t think I had a run in with him. ;) It was somewhat of a frustrating day for me, too. Was sent to the Guest Relations window where I waited almost 30 minutes (behind lots of angry folks) to get my ticket with my CP season pass. Boo. Then we got in a super-slow line for Ghostrider, waited an hour and 15 minutes. When we finally made it upstairs, noticed that ride ops were moving slower than the 100-year-old Galapagos Tortoises at the San Diego Zoo. Oh well. Waited a few more minutes for the back seat and enjoyed an insane Ghostride, slightly vicious, but not painful, and with the scariest first drop on a woodie in my experience. Fun! Waited close to an hour for Perilious Plunge, got strapped in (ouch, but I felt secure), and got very, very wet. You know how all water rides have signs that say "you may get drenched blah blah blah" ? Well, they’re not playing on this one. Wear dark colors or pack a blanket or an extra shirt or something. The line for Xcelerator looked sunny and warm, so we headed over there and waited about a half hour, then two rides from our turn, Xcelerator went down with computer problems. I’ve been in these situations before, and it was always to my benefit to wait it out. We waited close to an hour before we finally gave up. Found a candy shop and drowned my sorrows in a big piece of fudge. It’s now 5:30 or so, and we spend the next 90 minutes riding Boomerang, Montezooma’s Revenge (I never realized how much I missed Tidal Wave!), the Tampico Tumbler, and Jaguar. My friend and I were completely spooked out as we walked through Jaguar’s long, empty queue...very fun! Do they totally haunt the queue for Scary Farm? Jaguar is a blast...I wished I was 10 years old so I could run through the line again and again, but I held back. 7:00pm came too quickly, and, somewhat defeated, we headed to In & Out Burger (good stuff) and back to the hotel. Saturday and Sunday we did the whole Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Venice Beach touristy thing, and made a quick trip to the Santa Monica pier Saturday night to ride the West Coaster, nothing to write home about, but scenic and fun. Saw a wierd, mostly naked guy dancing on an overturned bucket while holding two cobras at Venice. A highlight. Still no luck finding shorts.
Monday 1/6, headed to Magic Mountain with some concerns about what would and wouldn’t be running due to the Santa Ana winds. As it turns out X (boohoohoo), Riddler’s Revenge, Pyschlone, and Ninja are down for the day. Great. However, the park is very nearly empty...empty like in the fantasies you have as a kid (or maybe now) about having an amusement park to yourself. Rode the other "adult" coasters twice each (with Flashback! being the noteable exception...ouch) by 3:30pm. Quick review of some highlights: finally got on a Deja Vu...love it! Quite different from little brother Face/Off...actually thought it was less intense than Face/Off. Goliath...awesome shady queue, fabulous drop, dizzying helix, lots of people puking when they got off. S:TE...is it or isn’t it? Who cares...it’s fun...and so loud. Revolution and Gold Rusher...beautiful rides! SFMM is by far the most beautiful park I’ve been too..so many hills and trees. Was disappointed in the lack of ride op interaction with guests, not once all day did a ride op say anything...and frequently didn’t even hear an auto-spiel. Made me miss the crowd a bit...maybe that empty park isn’t so special. So anyway, at 3:30, we head back to the car and drive like madwomen to Buena Park (after a quick call to ensure that Xcelerator is running), and get to KBF at 4:45pm, the park closes at 6:00pm. We get in 5 rides on Xcelerator (holy adreneline, true love) and another spin on each Ghostrider, Jaguar, and Montezooma’s Revenge.
Tuesday we shot down to San Diego for an awesome day at the zoo. The pandas rock. See them if you can. Headed to Mission Beach to ride the Giant Dipper in the evening, but found that all the rides were closed for winter work. Boohoo. It looked fabulous, though. Consoled ourselves with Coronas and mahi-mahi tacos at a rooftop bar. Made the drive back (the driver drank sprite) to the LA ‘burbs in 90 minutes. What is this horrific California traffic I keep hearing about? Mercifully, Wednesday morning is a bit chilly and rainy, making it easier to face the reality that we’d fly back to Chicago that night. We pack our bags, check out of the hotel, and call SFMM. X is running. We’re so there. We ride. That’s some crazy stuff...I’m not even sure what to say about it, but let’s just say I liked it. Two "xperiences" later and we’ve got to head out to LAX. Bye LA, thanks for an awesome week!
*** This post was edited by dawnmarie313 on 1/10/2003. ***
*** This post was edited by dawnmarie313 on 1/10/2003. ***
Glad you got to ride Xcelerator, A LOT. Yeah, it sounds like the 3rd was a real bad day for Knotts. Ghostrider ops are usually great, but can be just horrible. I would write guestcomments@knotts.com a letter, they will take action if its deemed neccesary. I know i used to have to wait to get a comp ticket at soak city usa in san diego (passes were not compatible with the scanners) for a few minutes, but then mid season they just began writing down the pass numbers at the entrance, much faster. the reason why the info office was so crowded was because of the season pass sale going on. if you would have talked to an exployee who works the admission system (say reentry), I'm sure you could get them to escort you (and other non pass buyers too, they don't deserve to wait to cash a check or what not) to the front of the line to be helped ASAP. In fact I'd guarantee it would work.
thanks for bringing up the low ride op/employee interaction deal at SFMM. its totally true. some of the knotts employees are like that, they must be shy or something. some of them (like a guy who used to work on bommerang and joke to the guests "do you have your seatbelt on" as they departed the station and always make silly voices on the mic, or the ride ops you can ask questions to on the train, stagecoach and sky cabin), and whoa, actually hold a conversation with. But then there was this girl working in the perilous periphinalia shop, and i literally had to force her to say "you're welcome". and the funny thing was she was debating with her co worker which was better to work at- disneyland or downtown disney. why does she even waste her time. you would think DL would ask knotts how they performed.
Yeah, its kind of depressing when a mall has 99 cents stores, 2/3 empty shops, and has a Target going into it. Oh yeah, the mall's bathroom was just 2 private rooms. 2 traditional toilet seats only. And there was no one waiting to use them. it seems like the only thing that bring in people are the linens n things store and target when it opens. last time I visited here, on a hot summer saturday this past year, people could ride a bike through the mall (and one did). There was just NO ONE there. You should have gone somewhere else. Cedar Fair should have bought the mall a while ago. Then tear it down!!!! Its east of the other big parking lot, and they could close off that little street in between.
UGH, you like coldstone? I can't even eat the stuff anymore. Not to mentioned they really jacked up prices lately. Rite aid is cheaper and better.
Get it if you want to.
Is hau mei (sp?) still in the us?
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"I ate the cookie"
Isn't the mom possibly pregnant, but they won't know until like 3 days before when the pregnancy would happen? Thats what I recall...
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Loyal fan of Nolimits.
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stoogemanmoe Miss coastergames.net? Here is a good site.
Speedy-here's the scoop on the pandas in San Diego. Mom's not pregnant yet.
We actually went on Wednesday instead of earlier in the week because of the Santa Ana winds, it was particularly bad those two days. I was glad that the winds had died by Wed. Speaking of, we're having another one now, though the winds aren't really here...it's just 80 something degrees in mid January.
You're *completely* right about the ride-ops. Of the 20 time or so I've been to SFMM, I've only really had any interaction with *one* ride-op. I'm the kind of person that makes the occasional clever (well, clever to me anyway, annoying as heck to everyone else, I'm assuming) quip about something, especially when a ride is having problems. The ride-ops always look like they could use someone *not* complaining, so I usually try to make a joke to at least make 'em feel a little bit less stressed. One time X went down, and I was at the front of the front row queue, right next to a ride-op who was getting visibly frustrated by everyone asking her what's wrong, so I informed her that it was obviously me, and that as soon as I left, everything would be up and running again nicely. She just looked mad and gave me the standard "We're sorry for the inconvenience sir, we're doing everything we can to fix the ride quickly." Only one ever has joked back with me, and he was actually funny. I wish more of the ride-ops there would mess around a bit, but it mostly seems like they're autonomous drones...
BTW, hope you went to the ride side of the train of X. They had no-one manning the fork in the queue underneath the station, and *everyone* was walking straight through up to the left side of the station. The line looked probably about an hour to an hour and a half on the left, the right had about a 25 minute wait.
*** This post was edited by Tom Servo on 1/18/2003. ***
Dang Dawnmarie...I wish I would have known you were going to be there, it would have been great to meet you.
Moosh
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Sig under construction!
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Sig under construction!
Moosh: I've seen conflicting reports from your-own-self on this...so I was holding out some hope. So if you're not going I'm not going then either.
Yeah, right. ;)
*** This post was edited by dawnmarie313 on 1/21/2003. ***
*** This post was edited by dawnmarie313 on 1/21/2003. ***
I was holding out hope as recently as this weekend but after reviewing my finances its not going to happen, especially with a wedding in Puerto Vallarta the weekend before and my 12-day ACE Con-Quest trip a week after SRM.
I hate to miss it but that's life.
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Sig under construction!
A Mooshless SRM? Say it isn't so! Oh well, I'll see you at Solace and the Con.
Dawn will have to make up for the lack of Moosh at SRM, though.
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--Oat Boy
My page
Talk about a 'baptism in fire!' Do you realize what you're in for Dawn?
Here are some of your new SRM responsibilities:
1. Breaking the bell on the Legend.
2. Keeping the goons at bay.
3. Serving as a surrogate 'sugar momma' to nasai, gator, and myself.
4. Organizing some sort of 'enthusiast appreciation event' for HW and the Koch family. Nothing complicated, just say, a prom and graduation party. :)
5. Make us laugh...A lot.
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'I feel it coming on again just like it did before. They feed your pride with boredom and they lead you on to war.' - The Soft Boys 'I Wanna Destroy You.'
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'I feel it coming on again just like it did before. They feed your pride with boredom and they lead you on to war.' - The Soft Boys 'I Wanna Destroy You.'
You left one out, chris: On Raven's fifth drop and on Legend's double up you must scream as loud as you can "Give it to me Daddy! Yeah!"
If you really wanna Moosh it up, continue to yell all night long until you blow out your vocal cords, then do Branda Vacarro imitation all the next day as your voice recovers.
Have fun. Wish I wasn't missing out on the fun.
Moosh - needs a sugar daddy of his own.
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Sig under construction!
*** This post was edited by chris on 1/21/2003. ***
Closed topic.
