It's a hefty drive (or ride) from the home base to SFWoA, and getting to the park by 8:00 wasn't easy. A 4:00 rise-and-shine was required before we could get out on the road at 4:30.
3 hours later, we arrived at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure. We were told to be at the coaster by 8, and did get there on time.
...only to wait something like three
more hours before we actually got to ride the thing. A little annoying, but I didn't get that worked up over it.
The coaster itself, I thought, was fabulous. The crew (which, as noted, consisted of a few Vekoma employees) was a tad on the slow side, but considering the circumstances, I could understand. The seats reclined in the station, not on the lift as previously announced. I only got one ride (I'll explain below), but that one ride stuck on the lift. It was a nice opportunity to look up and get a view of the place. Then we started moving again.
...and all hell broke loose. The flip was insane, like nothing I've ever experienced on a coaster. I was amazed at how secure I felt in the restraints. The loop is filled with
tons of G's, probably the most I've ever felt in one inversion. It
is weird looking at the other riders through the loop. I was in the extreme back (which a few people actually expected to be the front ;)), so I saw the people in the front of the train. The two whatever-they're-called flips before the final helix were pretty smooth; I hardly even noticed I was going upside-down through them. The helix is cool, where I really got the flying sensation.
After one ride, they directed us back to the park entrance for lunch. Not my favorite food, but good. We (Joe Cernelli, a member of this site, and myself) were pretty exhausted, even after eating. That, combined with the Pittsburgh Penguins game we both wanted to see (and actually ended up stopping into the 'Burgh to see what was goin' on) starting at 7:00, led us to the decision to leave.
So, to summarize:
X-Flight = Awesome. Sunburn = bad. Free tickets = good! (Coaster count = 31 ;))
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Matt Lynch
Co-Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
http://kennywood.coasterbuzz.com
