worknman

Crap, does that mean it's going to be packed all week long ?

Ok, so you guys have talked us into it... we have decided to go in May Anybody have any links so we can read up on trip planning.. where to stay, what's the best order to ride stuff, anything else we should check out while in the area, etc. Also, anybody know when 'physics day' is this year, or how I can find out?

Thanks for all the great info, guys I talked to my dad about (who will be going with me) and we're still not sure. If it's 60 or above and sunny during the day, that would be alright, but it would suck if it was 40 and we're freezing our butts off. seems like it would be gamble. Our next optimal time would be during the 3rd week of August. Better weather, but more crowds.

Do you guys think going on the 18th or 19th would be too soon after opening day, in regards to how crowded it will be? The next weekend would be Memorial Day weekend, which will surely jack up the prices of flights and hotel fares, so I'm thinking the 3rd week in May would be the best time to strike.

Hey guys, I am going to be making a trip to Cedar Point this year, and for various logistical reasons on my end, wanted to try to do it in May. I see on their website that the park opens this season on May 16, 2009. I wanted to ask those of you who live in the area and/or have gone that time of the year a couple of questions: 1. Does anybody know when summer vacation starts in that area? It would be nice to go on a weekday, while all the kids are still in school. 2. What's the weather like that time of year? Being from south Texas, I am concerned that it might be a little chilly. And I mean chilly by Texas standards hehe

I'm sorry, this is probably not the appropriate forum to post this, but I don't know where else to ask I'm getting frequent emails from this site that I would like to unsubscribe to. There appears to be no unsubscribe link in the emails, and I didn't see the option anywhere under preferences? Thanks for your help.

Honestly, I would skip SFMM and go to Cedar Point instead. Even though I've never been to CP myself, it sounds like a much better run park overall, based on what I've read. About the only reason I could imagine going to SFMM instead of CP (assuming you'd have to travel to get to either one) is X, and that's a pretty big reason indeed, but I'm not sure it's worth the tradeoff in the overall quality of the park itself. Then again, Cedar Point might've went to sh*t since the last time I looked into it, so what do I know ?

LMAO, suicide hill .. is that what they call it? That thing was a real b*tch, but we only had to walk up it once, so it's all good. Fortunately, we're both in pretty good shape, so aside from a little fatigue, we still felt good at the end of the night. Plus, the weather is nice compared to Houston/Dallas/Atanta, where it's about 95 degrees and hotter than hell at this time of year. SFMM was a cakewalk by comparison By the time we left, it was dark and the temperature felt like it was around 70, and we had both cooled off.

Hey all, I'm adding my little trip report to this thread, since my dad and I (we're from Texas visiting Cali) were at the park on the same day as the original poster. This was our first time there. I can confirm that Deja Vu was closed, and X was late opening. I can confirm also that X broke down twice while we were in line. However, we rode it in the evening (around 7:30pm), where it sounds like the OP rode it in the morning, so it's possible that it might've broken down more than twice. I know for sure that on one of the breakdowns, the ride actually got stuck on the track. My biggest gripe about this park was the flash pass. We asked which rides the flash pass didn't work on, and was told X, Deja Vu, and Superman. So we buy a flash pass and head over to Viper. The wait is only an hour, so we decide to try using the flash pass. "Sorry guys, no flash passes allowed. Only 1 train running today." WTF? You think somebody would tell the people who are selling the f**king things to let people know who are buying them when they specifically ask which rides will it not work on. But that isn't the worst part .. after we stood in line for over an hour and were close to getting on, they started letting flash passers on!! The flashers would take our train a couple of rounds, then they'd send the flashers away, then they'd let them on, then send them away again. It was clear that somebody was asleep at the wheel. We had to wait at least a half hour longer than we should have. Needless to say, we were quite pissed. I know the park has gotten a bad rap in the past about rides being closed and such, but there are a lot of little nagging problems that could easily be fixed, such as what I described above, and the park opening at 10:30, even though the website said it would be open at 10. That being said, we had a lot of fun. We rode every coaster in the park except for Deja Vu, as it was closed. This took us about 10 hours to complete. The parks I've been to so far are Six Flags Dallas, Houston (Astroworld, now closed), Atlanta, and a few coasters in Vegas and other random spots. To me, the standout coasters were these: - X (The roughest coaster in the park, but a mind-blowing ride. If you go, you HAVE to ride this.) - Goliath (Haven't yet been to Cedar Point to ride Millenium Force) - Superman (Though I'd honestly rather ride Greezed Lightnin'. It's not as fast, but it does have a loop and a backwards incline.) Honorable mention goes to Tatsu. It's a flying coaster and pretty standard as far as I'm concerned, but there's one drop that sends you straight down head first that's just amazing. A few other random notes: - Park's not exactly user-friendly. They could definitely use more signs directing people toward the entrance and parking. Plus, there's a lot of road construction going on around the place .. it needs sidewalks for people walking to/from the park! - We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn. While I'm certain this isn't the cheapest place to stay, it's a really nice hotel. (This surprised me, since the Hilton I stayed in the night before near the Ontario airport was pretty crappy.) They've got fridge, microwave, coffee maker, and widescreen TV in the rooms. Plus, there's a small room by the check in counter with computer and Internet access. Super friendly staff, too. Whenever we asked for directions on how to get somewhere, they pulled out maps and highlighted directions. I have nothing but praise for this place. Plus, it's only a 15 minute walk to the park, so you can save $15 on parking. - Long lines for Tatsu, X, Riddler, Goliath, and Viper. Shorter lines for Scream, Batman, and Colossus. The line for Ninja was pretty non-existant. It's a tame coaster compared to the others, but it's still fun, so we rode it twice, since the line was less than 5 minutes - Out of the coasters I haven't mentioned (Viper, Ridler, Scream, Batman), I thik Viper was my favorite, although if you don't get to ride all of these 4, there's nothing all that spectacular about any of them. - Colossus is ok for a wooden coaster, but the Georgia Cyclone (and Texas Cyclone, R.I.P.) is better. I thought it was better than Texas Giant though. - Freefall: I don't know what kind of ride this is, but this is one of our favorites, having ridden clones of this at SF Atlanta and Astroworld (where it was called Sky Screamer). This was definitely the worst of all that we have ridden, because it is extremely rough at the end of the ride, after it breaks and goes down the ramp to let you off. - Some have complained that this park is dirty. I didn't notice any trash, but then again .. my old 'stomping ground' used to be Astroworld, so maybe I'm just desensitized to it All in all, we had a good time, but I'm not sure we'll ever go back. The thing with the flash pass plus one ride breaking down and another being closed is not something I am willing to easily overlook. I was planning to go to Cedar Point this year because of the bad reputation that this park has, but I decided to go to SF:MM since I was in the LA area anyway. I don't regret that decision, but one visit is enough for me, I think. I hope the folks who own this park get smart and realize that pissing people off as a result of trying to cut costs and sh*t not working right is not a good way to get repeat customers back in the front gate. I hope they manage to keep X running, because other than the sheer number of coasters, that ride is the only thing that seperates this park from its competition.

Are you sure? According to the web site, it's X and Deja Vu: http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/tickets/flashpass.aspx Anyway, thanks for the info!

Hey guys, My dad and I live in Texas, but we're going to be in LA this weekend, so figured we'd hit up SFMM on Monday, since we've never been there. I've got a few questions for the SFMM gurus here: 1. What's the best ride to get on first? I've heard X in the past, but from reading here, sounds like Tatsu is the one slowest lately. 2. From what the original poster stated, did I read right that Colossus is currently running backwards? 3. I tried to buy a flash pass online, but I couldn't select a date prior to like 8/16/07 .. anyone know why that is? Does that mean they've run out, and none will be available that day, even at the front gate? Any additional tips/suggestions would be appreciated. My dad already has us a motel. I asked him which it was, and he couldn't remember the name right off hand, but said it was supposed to be within walking distance (or close to it) from the park. Thanks

Yes, I think so too. When would be a good time of the year to go to CP? I'm thinking mid-May, like in the middle of the week, while school's still in session

Hello all, My dad and I are big roller coaster fans, though we've never ventured outside of the theme parks in Texas (SF:Astroworld/SF:Texas) and Georgia (where we go to visit family every few years, and usually hit SF:Georgia while there). We also rode a few coasters in Vegas while there in 2002, and went to a now defunct park in Florida called 'Boardwalk and Baseball' in the late 80's. Anyway, it is very likely that our next planned outting to a theme park together next year will probably be his last, because he's getting too old to handle the big coasters. Therefore, we figure we'd better make this trip count Instead of being limited to our usual stomping grounds (Astroworld is closed now anyway - R.I.P. Texas Cyclone), we're willing to travel anywhere in the US to find the park with the best selection of the biggest and baddest coasters. Only question is, which park? We care about the coasters and nothing else. From my initial research, it seems that the obvious choices would be SFMM and Cedar Point. Between the two, I like the looks of the coasters more at SFMM (esp X), but I've read some really negative reviews of that park. Some people say it is really dirty, but I'm used to that, from having gone to Astroworld so many times More seriously though, people have reported going to the park and finding that many of the rides were closed, plus the lines were super long. Since we'll be flying in from out of state, we've only got one shot at this, and don't want to take that kind of risk. As for the lines, I think that if we had a choice between a park full of stellar roller coasters with 2-hour waits and one with slightly less stellar coasters and shorter lines, we'd probably choose the latter. So, what do you guys think? Between these two, which would you choose if you had to fly there? Or is there another park somewhere we should be considering as well?