packfanlv

I visited both of these parks for the 1st time last year. For me, SFGAdv is the better of the two parks. While I enjoy both of them, the combination of Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro & Medusa along with rides like the parachute and Houdini (I know its closed this season) push SFGAdv over the top. I also think with Wiggle's World and new coasters like The Dark Knight, SFGAdv is a better rounded family park. I know the kids section in CP got a makeover this year, but it really stunk when I was there. With that said there is only one park where I can ride 17 coasters in one day. (And I did!) IMO SFGAdv is the best Six Flags park and the little touches like the theming in the newer areas (tigers) adds to its charm as well. If I had to rank coasters in the parks here would be my top 5. 1. El Toro 2. Maverick 3. Nitro 4. Millenium Force 5. Kingda Ka/TTD (They were too similar for me) BTW does anyone else think that Magnum XL is a horribly uncomfortable and painful coaster? I always see it ranked high in the polls, but I really didn't like it!

Thanks again Big Mike! I have come to look forward to your trip reports. When I am back in the states I hope to meet up with you somewhere. My wife has a problem with you though. Since I have been reading the Big Mike Road Show I tend to take way to many pictures of myself in parks. Keep it up!

Thanks for the TR. I have heard a lot about this park but have never seen any pictures. I agree that it is quite sad to see a park with so much history end up like this.

^Way to get the post count to 100!! Just kidding. Did you know that The Scenic Railway at Luna Park Melbourne, built in 1912, is the world's oldest continually running roller coaster. (And I missed the credit when I was there in December because it was down for refurbishment!)

I guess it is time for the next installment. After leaving Sunway Lagoon we stopped at a twelve story shopping mall on the way back to the hotel. This mall, Times Square Kuala Lumpur is home to an indoor space themed park called Cosmo's World. Cosmo's World is housed on floors 6-10 of the mall and is a really neat park. Dominating the entire interior is a coaster called Supersonic Odyssey. Supersonic Odyssey was manufactured by Intamin and is the best indoor looping roller coaster I have ever been on. (Sorry Canyon Blaster and Rock 'N Roller Coaster) The coaster station is located on the 8th floor. Instead of going into a lift the coaster starts down a hill from the station into a banked turn and then a heartline roll. Following that fun filled section is the lift hill which is followed by a loop and a corkscrew along with quite a few fast banked turns. I was only able to ride the coaster four times since they only dispatched every twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately for me the park was dead. Not only was this coaster a huge surprise, the park itself was really neat and the operations were great. I just can't repeat how awesome and surprising this coaster was. Speaking from the future, I have now been to eight parks in Southeast Asia and this coaster is in a class by itself in comparison to others in this area. It has been a lot of fun reading everyone's comments. If you are enjoying this thread let me know! Shawn And finally if you didn't know what a twelve story shopping mall looks like! (I couldn't capture all of the floors in one picture!) Ok one last coaster shot. The coaster twists as it goes through the mouth. It was my favorite part of the coaster! Kids area.. More flats Hey that's where Kenny Roger's Roaster went! Choo Choo Now a few quick shots of the other rides. One last coaster shot! The headrests were a bit nasty. More examples of great coaster design! The park also has some cool flats. For identification purposes. Heading out of the station. The coaster really wraps it's way around the entire park. Going up the lift hill! Say hello to Supersonic Odyssey! Loopage! Yay Cosmo's World!

Big Mike, I do agree that the girls looked a little young, but it seems that is corrected. As for the third person trip reports and everything else, keep it up! I enjoy every update. Thanks again. Shawn

^I don't believe Crush's Coaster is considered an E-Ticket. I was always under the impression it is a D-Ticket attraction. Am I incorrect? Other than that, thanks for the info.

Let me be the first to say that I am not a huge fan of standups because they seem a bit gimmicky to me. With that said, I think Riddler's Revenge at SFMM is the best of the four I have been on. (RR, Iron Wolf, Mantis, Georgia Scorcher). Iron Wolf and Mantis are just too rough and Georgia Scorcher is a little bleh.

I agree with many of the other posters in saying that Vekoma SLCs are the absolute most painful make me wonder why I like roller coasters rides in the worlds. On top of that, I agree that Lethal Weapon The Ride at MovieWorld in Australia is the worst of the Vekoma SLCs that I have been on. I rode it twice and my ears felt like they were going to bleed. For some reason though the Aussies seemed to eat it up. As for Cyclone at SFMM, it was painful, but for some reason I always had fun on it. I guess I just like a little punishment from my Woodies. I also enjoy Cyclone at SFNE although it is quite the rough coaster as well. Desperado in Primm, Nevada has gotten very rough and painful over the past five or so years. It almost seems as if the wheels are square! It is such a shame as this was an incredible coaster in its day and had so much good airtime. Hopefully some day they will restore it.

^Actually I think that was just the lighting. All of the slides are in excellent condition and most are brand new. The park really is immaculate. Since we were actually enjoying the waterpark I went around and took some pictures after lunch and the weather wasn't that great. This is why some of the pictures look a bit faded. Thanks!

Yes after looking at it again that does seem to be the logical explanation. Thanks.

That is largely debatable. It is a family ride, but awesome is definitely not the word I would use to describe it. The Motocoaster at Dreamworld is the most disappointing and pointless coaster I have been on in a long time. Honestly both times I rode it, myself and everyone else on the ride at the time left hugely disappointed. I just kept saying, "What was the point." I hope these ones are better and provide a bit more thrills. I also agree that this does look like a cheap carnival attraction.

I actually think it looks pretty good from that movie. Does anyone know if there is a dark ride portion or if it is just a standard mouse with the theming? I love how the "guests" at the end hit the message home that it is thrilling but not too scary for the entire family! Thanks for posting it. In that first picture with the family holding their arms up, are they actually going up the lift hill? I can see the chain beneath them.

Great TR! Just when I thought that I had seen enough jelly you came up with another picture to make me laugh. I am looking forward to the rest of your pictures!

I apologize since I promised I was going to be posting the Xocomil water park pictures. For some reason I forgot about them and went on posting TRs from my Southeast Asia trip. Anyway, here are the pictures from the best themed non Disney water park I have ever been to. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for the memories Xetulul and Xocomil. I miss you! Its time to say goodbye! The least themed area of the park. Random theming. Wave pool numero dos. A massive slide complex. Angry villagers attacking... More lazy river theming. Theming along the lazy river. Toilet bowl with a drop slide that runs right underneath it. It is a head chopper for sure! These racing slides had some amazing airtime! And heading back! Coming down..... All of the towers are nicely themed. This is a shuttle tube slide which was a lot of fun. A small play area in front of the wave pool. They actually have two identical wave pools right next to each other. Children's play area The Guatemalans love speedos way to much IMO. Mayan restaurant complex Entrance plaza.

I wouldn't worry about it. It never confused me and I am pretty sure that everyone on this forum knows that SFMM hasn't been closed for 25 years. I think it is wonderful that you have reignited your passion for coasters and that you will go back to a park which is so very different than the one you saw in 1983.

I to love Gold Rusher and make it a point to ride it at least once every time I visit. As for memories, I fondly remember freefall as the scariest and my favorite ride. I also remember always wanting to ride Jet Stream and Tidal Wave as well. I usually only visited once a year while in summer camp since my parents preferred to take us to Disneyland so I was always at the mercy of others as to what I got to ride. During the mid 90's when I moved to Las Vegas I didn't get to visit the park and when I finally returned in 1999 the coaster boom was in full effect. I have visited several times a year since then and watched the park steadily decline as more coasters were added. With that said, it seems to be getting better and I can't wait to visit when I return to the states later this year. I am sad that they lost so many flat rides, but given their state of disrepair I understand it. Hopefully they will bring in good flats as opposed to rehashes and usher in a new era of a fully filled out SFMM. I certainly hope so!

Thanks for the TR. You have posted so many great pics. I think the pictures of the parade characters with their undergarments were hilarious. It is a shame that so many things are breaking and in disrepair. I will be there in three months and have high hopes, but after seeing your TR I will lowering my expectations a bit. For Pirates and Phantom Manor, two of the headline attractions to have effects and audio missing is inexcusable IMO. I am looking forward to Thunder Mountain and the Indy coaster though. As for line cutting I have never seen anything like it is here in Southeast Asia. People will knock you out of the way to cut you off or simply push their way past. It sure makes me miss the rowdy teenagers in American parks. (Ok, not so much!)

Yes we did. IMO the Petronas Towers are the most attractive buildings I have ever seen. I guess it has something to do with the stainless steel exteriors, but I really loved them. Every morning they hand out tickets for free to the sky bridge on the 41st floor. Once your time comes they take you up for about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, just as we got up to the bridge it started to pour so we didn't get any scenic views, but it was really neat. I highly recommend visiting the Petronas Towers if you are in KL. I have some pics on my flickr page if you are interested. - Just go into the Singapore & Malaysia group. Thanks again!

I agree that asking them to pose would be a bit much. The above picture was taken from my car with a zoom lens. But I do think they tend to bring it upon themselves. With theme parks like Dutch Wonderland and the many shows and buggy rides that are offered in and around Lancaster, they have sort of made their lifestyle an attraction. One thing is for sure, they seem to enjoy the tourist dollars. With tourism comes jerks who want to put their camera in your face and ask you to pose.

I actually disagree. I think both Nick Universe and Adventuredome are fun parks. The noise does become a bit of an issue, but that just doesn't bother me. Ultimately it is hard to compare an indoor park to one that is outdoors, because of the space restrictions an indoor park has. My only complaint of indoor parks is that the attractions are usually packed in so tightly. Nice article by the way. I really enjoyed learning about this park. It is amazing how many parks were doomed to fail from the beginning because of bad business plans.

I just want to thank everyone for the nice comments. Chuck: The bridge is incredible and certainly provides a unique theme park experience. FYI the bridge is 428 meters long which equates to around 1400 feet in American speak. Sunway Lagoon is a few coasters short of being great. However, with Genting Highlands only an hour away, it fits in with its niche. (Genting Highlands is a theme park/casino resort with two theme parks located an hour away from KL.) Look for a Genting Highland TR on this thread in the coming future. I will be posting pictures of Cosmo's World an indoor theme park housed in a KL mall tomorrow. It houses the best indoor looping coaster I have ever been on and certainly the best coaster in Southeast Asia IMO.

Happy Birthday and nice TR. I do disagree about TOT though. It is one of my favorite rides. I just can't bring myself to comparing it to normal drop towers.

Big Mike you better be careful on the mainland Europe trip. Don't let this scare you off though. You have a whole community of people here counting on you!

Yes we did. It was actually a really fun ride. At first they told us that eight people were required to ride. With my son not tall enough, we only had two. Fortunately after five minutes of waiting they felt sorry for us and allowed us to ride alone. It was great. The park is very beautiful, but in reality doesn't fare very well as a standalone park. When you add in the value of the waterpark and extreme park it makes more sense. We spent a couple of hours down in the water park so it made the visit worth it. I still am sad that the extreme park was closed though, paintball shooting and zip lining over the wave pool would have been really cool! BeemerBoy - Thanks for the nice comments. I am glad you enjoy the blog. We are having a lot of fun, but after thirteen months of continuous travel the three of us are starting to get tired. We should be heading home in about three months!