singemfrc

Beginning of October can be very nice and dead, once you get farther into fright fest it starts getting very busy, getting busier as it gets closer to Halloween. Saturdays are almost always the busiest day of the week.

I watched it live via someone's periscope, and it was excellent for something put on by a non-disney park, on-par with the larger city produced shows, but Disney's is still miles above and beyond any of that. Disney's normal show (I havent seen the 60th one) is way better even than the one that was nationally televised on NBC in my opinion.

Yeah, it used to be a barrel roll and they took it out and replaced it with straight track.

On the bright side I hear Swashbuckler reopened today.

Wow..park is really busy today. All three main lots full, first overflow lot full, now parking people in a second overflow lot. If I got to the park and saw that, I'd just turn around and leave. That's no fun at all.

Yeah that stuff really irks me. The Six Flags New England ad with the giant photo of X2 was a serious facepalm. Like you said, how hard is it to pick a coaster from the current park. I wonder if the digital employee is even a physical park employee, they may not even know.

The ticket price includes admission to the park and access to the private group events such as ert, tours etc. that the general public cannot go to. There's usually a small break in ticket price for pass holders and/or club tpr members. Typically you arrive at the park at the appointed time and check in near the front gate to pick up your tpr wristbands or whatever credentials they have and get a full schedule for the day. It tells you what coaster is on ERT at what time, when/where tours or Q&A's are occurring, when/where meals are, etc. You're then free to attend whichever events you want throughout the day. Do a search for the threads for past WCBs and you can get a more detailed idea of what happens.

Thanks, I was kind of on the fence about the Knott's day only because I've been there a lot lately and wouldn't have gone to Knott's this year otherwise, but confirmation of Iron Reef contest plus any backstage tour is enough for me to decide I'm going

True I realize that a lot of people will ignore the screens, but at least some of them wont. This is not a big ticket item though...TV screens are a few hundred dollars each plus the brackets and labor to install them. If even 10% of people get something from the videos I still say that's money well spent.

We arent complaining that there's no video to watch, we're suggesting that the existence of the video may help some people load faster, speeding the line up for everyone.

Or like KBF who has the midly entertaining video playing that gives loading instructions for Silver Bullet. Something like that (especially if done as a humorous skit or something similarly entertaining that "tricks" people into paying attention) would go a long way. yeah, they can play it on the monitors in the que...oh wait. LOL Not a huge expense to put a couple large monitors in the que. SFDK has monitors in a lot of the queues playing looney toons, I think a few rides at SFMM have something similar. Putting a couple flat screens in there with an instructional video would pay off in saved money from efficiency.

Or like KBF who has the midly entertaining video playing that gives loading instructions for Silver Bullet. Something like that (especially if done as a humorous skit or something similarly entertaining that "tricks" people into paying attention) would go a long way.

Yeah I think at the very least they need to do something with signs or audio announcements to warn people about how easy it is for things to fly out so that they know ahead of time and that doesnt happen. Ideally I agree there should be mandatory bunnies for this TC just like X2. Up north at SFDK, Superman is a coaster that has a very quick pop of strong airtime coming up the first hill that can eject things from pockets as shown in Robb's video, a very slow barrel roll that can dump things out of your pants pockets, and for the back row or 2 another bit of ejector airtime coming down the hill after the bill roll. This park, to it's credit, always has an employee standing at the entrance to the queue (next to a large bank of bunnies). That employee visually scans any guest for any loose items and doesnt allow them to enter if they see anything and can instruct guests if theyre unsure about what they can bring on. Theyre very strict about loose articles because they know how easily those loose articles can become dangerous projectiles. I can't remember the last time I saw a problem as you described happening on that coaster. I think it's extremely noteworthy that with a ride that only holds a max of one train of 12 people that should be a capacity nightmare, they do an oustanding job pushing people through it and other parks, especially SFMM, should follow their lead. SFMM should set up a bank of bunnies like this outside the entrance to TC and have an employee there to screen people as best as possible. There's always going to be the juvenile delinquents that sneak things on purpose, but this should at least cut way down on the ones that do it inadvertently.

I don't blame him, he wants to get at least two flips

Someone taking one swing of a baseball bat to your calf while you're in the last raven turn...cause that's exactly what it feels like. I find Goliath relaxing. The station almost always has a cool breeze running through it and the coaster itself is nice and smooth. I ride Goliath to recharge..it's not a "must ride" but I'd be disappointed if it was down. Augusts are very busy (before school is back in anyway), and really really really hot. If you're going on a Saturday, expect 1hr+ on almost all major coasters and water rides. On a "not so busy today" generally 15-30 on minor coasters such as Ninja or Revolution, Probably average about 60-90 on Tatsu, 60+ on X2 and YOLO. Twisted Colossus I havent seen myself, but so far I've been hearing waits of 30-45 most days now that the ops are in a groove, but it also has a lot of down time. Riddler only has one train so that is a long wait (60+ probably) so take advantage of Single Rider line. Scream has been having longer lines than usual lately, not uncommon to see it coming out of the entrance.

Don't be. They run it as lame as possible, you usually only get 1 flip. I think the reason it's always closed is because people know it's boring and no one rides it. I only find it open on really busy days now.

That would be interesting if not cripplingly expensive and unfeasible. Would be fun to try in NL2/TPS though.

Absolutely beautiful day at the park. Didn't hit any race day traffic and we were the first car in the lot. Great weather sunny but not to hot, park was running two trains on everything but Kong with light crowds so station waits all around. Walked around and saw the animals for a change and even actually went to Drench, first time I attended a show since I was a kid. Got what will probably be my farewell ride in on Roar and my first ride on the carnie loop, which was interesting but not terribly exciting. Great photo my friend took of one of the penguins. Roar was not terribly popular in the morning. First ones at the park! Pano shot I took of DareDevil after it went down and we were standing by the exit waiting for it to be back up. Saw the butterflies for the first time in at least 15 years. Beautiful pond. One of many butterflies, I just like how this photo came out.

Can we just talk about RR for a minute? And how it literally has THE WORST station queue layout possible? Interesting observation with the train. I'm really curious to find out. I've never seen it run more than one train but I didn't notice it was from Great Adventure. How long has it been like this? I was there this past winter, but I skipped RR because of its impressively slow line. Oh it's by far the worst queue!! Not to mention that annoying Equador techno song they've been playing since '98. Another annoyance are the overly long queues on older rides that aren't necessary any longer (Goliath, Riddler, Batman etc). Its like a mile trek and God forbid you get an op that won't let you re-ride. The last time I saw Riddler running two trains was sometime last year Tho I didnt visit the park between Sept '14 and May of this year It's the worst. Fortunately though it has the world's worst standby queue, it has the world's best single rider queue. Virtual guaranteed walkon any day of the year. You could take a group of 10 into the SR queue on a busy day and get all of you off the ride faster than youd get up to the front in the regular line.

Yes you do get free parking. There's no park early entry, but if you do Medusa first instead of Superman, they let you into Oasis Plaza 10 or 15 minutes before the rest of the guests. In my experience though, they usually don't start loading trains until the park opens, so the only advantage you get is being in the front of the line for the first train. After that you're back in the regular queue. Kong won't even let you line up before the park opens, not that most people would want to. V2 is pretty fun if you havent done those Intamin shuttles before. I find the last row to be the best, I love the hangtime/weightlessness at the peak of the rear tower. If you don't usually mind SLCs too much, Kong is fun as SLCs go in my opinion. Turn your head into each turn and you wont get the headbanging. (Side note if you're bored or tired, standing near Kong's exit and listening to people come out of the exit cursing at the beating they just took is always fun) SFDK's Boomerang is a bit of a head scrambler, I can't stand riding it more than once per day. Ride the back row of Roar for some satisfying unexpected pops of airtime. Same goes for Superman, some really good air in row 6 of SUF. When you do that slow roll on Superman right when you get upside down I like to look around and see who's got their hands up and who's grabbing the bar for dear life.

It's funny that I've never really noticed that since I'm usually done and heading for the parking lot by that time

You're never out of space as long as there's room to plunk a station in there somewhere, just ask Nasu Highland Park!

Yeah, that should be fine. I've gone on race day before and didn't encounter any traffic. The only place I wonder if you'll see it is on the 101 N through San Francisco because people in SF and the south bay headed to the race would go that direction - but unlike the 2-lane Highway 37, there's more capacity on 101, so it may or may not be a problem. Load up google maps before you leave, look at live traffic and see if 101 is red. If it is, take the San Mateo Bridge instead. It looks like the race starts at noon, so we may beat the traffic anyway. It's sure not gonna stop me. Hell this is a small park anyway, there's plenty of time to get everything done that you want to do no matter how late you get there.

If I were you I'd take the Bay Bridge. Take 101 N to I-80/Bay Br East, take exit for 37 W and then immediately get off at Fairgrounds Drive. (You'll need $5 for the Carquinez Br toll unless you have FasTrak - that bridge collects tolls on east bound lanes) If you check traffic before you leave and find 101 south of the Bay Bridge to be a mess, you can alternatively head south on 101, then take 92 east across the San Mateo Bridge, then take 880 N until you get to I-80 E and follow from there. That way takes about 20 min longer than just taking the Bay Br. The park opens at 10:30, we're aiming to be there by 9:30. I like to be there at rope drop and get my Superman rides in before there's a line.

I'll be there on Sunday too, we're probably just going to leave about a half hour early incase the traffic jam spills onto I-80 (We're coming from Sacramento).If you're coming from north of San Quentin just take he 580 across the Richmond San Rafael Bridge instead of 37. Takes about 20 mins longer but you shouldnt have any traffic issues since all the race fans are going the other way. Coming from SF simply take the bay bridge. If the exit for 37 is jammed up just go one more exit up and take Fairgrounds Dr back to the park. EDIT: noticed your profile says Millbrae. You can either go up through SF and take the Bay Bridge, or you can take the San Mateo bridge to the 880 N to I-80 E. Bay Bridge is probably your quickest route. Trying to go all the way up 101 to 37 would be an absolute nightmare this Sunday.