singemfrc

I finally rode it a few days ago, and I feel the same way. I think it's just a fun little joke that enthusiasts have caught on to, rather than anyone's real opinion - I've been on about 250 coasters so far, and there are significantly worse ones out there. No competition at all. I suspect part of it might be people getting angry at the ridiculously slow operations - waiting 30 minutes in the station, sitting in the brake run so long that they have an operator doing standup over the PA to keep you occupied. After all that waiting for such a boring coaster I think people come off with worse opinions than the ride experience itself deserves. Someone I know went last saturday and the ERT was a complete ghost town. Repeated walkons for both Gold Striker and Flight Deck with almost completely empty stations. If you want consecutive rides or the ability to pick your row on Gold Striker, the ERT is the way to go. It is a Saturday however, so after the park opens to the public it will be busier than usual, so that's the tradeoff. Of course you should have multiple rides on the two longest lines, so its probably worth it.

Clearly that isnt true for everyone because I'm about the same size as you and have never had any discomfort, I find the restraints to be some of the most comfortable in the park. That's probably the most accurate description of GL I have ever read. I liked that too. At least on the really good unbalanced rides thats what it feels like when you go forward and them immediately backwards again and it rips your face off. I love it! To me X2 and Revolution are both way more painful than Green Lantern, I can't explain why for sure but discomfort has never even crossed my mind while on GL. I have a feeling that how people sit in the seat (posture and/or position) may play a big part. I'd love to be able to sit there and watch how people ride and ask them how they feel when they got off and try to figure it out.

I'm not kidding, if you put them on that first you may never see them again. If you really want them to jump in the deep end just take them on Full Throttle first. It's short but the hang time, the backwards, launch, and the end brake run will jump start their adrenaline.

It's summer so it will be busy. Saturdays are busiest followed by Sunday and then Friday then weekdays (barring events/deal days) Best to show up at least 45 mins prior to park opening to get far ahead enough in line that you have your choice of first ride with no line. For making the most of your time I recommend starting with YOLOCoaster if you arent purchasing a platinum FP and a $15 YOLO ride. If you do that you can come back to X2 at about 4:30pm when the line will be minimal. Tatsu can be ridden anytime using a flash pass (if you're going on a weekend, get a gold flash pass). If the person is literally afraid of all coasters she may be right..he might be in for a boring day. Ironically back when I was still afraid of "extreme" coasters I was dragged onto X as my first ride of the day. I wasn't happy about it as I was going up the lift hill, but I was pumped up when I got off and ready to ride again. It certainly is a good trial by fire. If you think it would be wiser to warm them up on something first, Colossus and Gold Rusher are the best non-kiddie starters. I would say Revolution, but pain can turn people off of coasters and that thing is nothing if not painful. (Same reason why I wouldnt recommend X2 even though I started on it, its very painful right now) Whatever you do, don't put them on Green Lantern first, they may never go near a coaster again! lol Oh! Also, there is a phone app on iOS and Android called "RideHopper" that can sometimes give pretty accurate info on wait times. It's user input based, so there's always the potential that someone misjudges time or trolls bad info, but the more submissions they get it averages out and SFMM gets more input than any other so it's usually pretty good. Theyve taken steps to make it more accurate by only allowing those in the park (checking GPS) to input times and it also has a built in timer so you can start your time when you get in line and then post the time it took when you get to the station. Recently the Android version also added alerts so you can set it to "Alert me when the ride has a wait of < or > # of minutes" Just don't take the times literally, use it more as a guide to see whats busy and what isnt (or whats closed). I believe its 1.99 on android but free on iOS.

Weird, wasnt aware that they had rehabbed either train, I will have to try that. The extended closure was reportedly due to a large tree limb that fell onto the tracks and was dragged through the brakes by a train causing major damage to the brake run. Namtab definitely will be closed for at least a few days while they switch back to the forward trains and relabel the station (back to 8 rows from 7), but Im not sure why Colossus is closed since the trains are completely separate and they are used to going back and forth for Fright Fest, there usually isn't an extended closure for that. Maybe it has to do with them removing the B&M trains from the track since they will never be used again?

^^ Theyre knocking down Scream too? Great!

You must have no feeling in your groin. GL, is the most painful crotch ride I've ever been on. I also hate X2 - too painful also but not in the crotch! It depends on the shape of your body and how well you fit into the seats. It doesn't hurt my crotch (or anywhere else) at all. A friend of mine who's much smaller than me says its very painful for her (She calls the it "Planned Parenthood: The Ride") but its not to me at all. I think it's more comfortable for larger people, I'm 6'0", and the seats are still high off the ground for me, so for shorter people it's just not a fit. X2 is another story. My calves are sore as hell after just one lap on that ride...but it's very fun up until they get hit.

Seriously..please look up the definition of the word confirms before you throw it around. This is far from confirmation, but it is definitely intriguing. I want to believe that this will be an RMC conversion, I want to believe that SFMM will finally get it's first truly great coaster in at least 12 years. (Say what you will about the current state of that 12 year old coaster, but it was mindblowing when it opened). I do believe that this is the most likely thing to happen, Im just anxious for official confirmation.

I dont know if Id go so far as to say it's the best ride in the park, but it is definitely a fun ride, and yeah the reason its called YOLOCoaster has nothing to do with the name SFMM gave it, which isn't really that bad. I just always called it YOLOCoaster though, it always seems weird to me when I see someone call it by it's given name. Green Lantern is my favorite ride in the park currently as I just love the intensity and unpredictability (And the SR line that eliminates waiting!) X2 is my favorite in design, it used to be by far my favorite but currently its so painful that it's hard to enjoy.

It's in the "BONUS!" chapter of the RCITR Blu-Ray. Rutschebanen with the brake man (One of which is actually Robb!) is on that disc too.

I almost wish the proceeds didnt go to charity, Id like to support the guy who runs it. He does really great work and I kinda worry what will happen to the museum when he can no longer run it since he's pretty much a one man operation. Every once in a while when Rick Dale at Ricks Restorations gets a pinball or arcade machine in to restore Tim may be hired to do the mechanics inside and hes a freakin genius. For someone above who said the Titanic exhibit is pricey, it is like $35 I think but if you have any interest in history it is so very worth it. Its not just a few pictures and pieces of rusty metal, they have entire parts of the ship reconstructed (including the stairway and a first/second/third class cabin), hundreds of artifacts from the ship and a huge section of the hull. They also give you a card with information about a passenger when you enter and when you leave you find out if "you" lived or died. It was may favorite part of my last Vegas visit and I highly recommend it. You can get discounted tix at the Tix4Tonight booth.

Getting a FP makes it so much easier though. As someone said above you can get a gold which all but eliminates waits on everything except X2, YOLO, and water rides (theyre on FP but usually have 30-45 min waits even for gold FP in summer). You can reserve your next ride while still in the station for the first one which speeds things up even more. With Gold or Platinum its usually 5-15min for almost all rides and if you consider time for station wait + walking to the next ride it makes practically everything a walkon. I always promote the SR lines because I love them (I go to parks solo a lot) and ACS is right..but let me stress how dramatically the wait time is reduced for Riddlers and Green Lantern. Even when the standby lines are 2hr+ the Riddlers will be walk on and Green Lantern will probably be 10 minutes or less. It's a huge difference, so even if you have a small group it's worth it. Lex Luthor has one but you'll almost always wait 15-20 mins since because each gondola holds so many people it's it's easier for them to fit groups together and thus less likely that there will be empty seats, so for Lex if the standby line isn't more than 30-45 it's not worth it to use SR. Viper and Revolution have SR lines but I really don't know why...99% of the time there's next to no line anyway, I've never actually used those ones. I usually don't even use FP on those rides when I have it, there's no point. I wish my other home parks (SFDK and CGA) had single rider lines..especially for Gold Striker at CGA. SFDK used to call for single riders on Superman when it was new but I haven't seen them do that in at least a year.

^ There are 2 backwards trains although its possible one of them wasn't running that day. For Riddlers (or any standup) if you are standing straight up like they tell you to do, your weight will be on that hard bicycle seat and its uncomfortable. You have to crouch just a tad before the seats lock so that when theyre locked, you stand up straight and theres an inch or two clearance between the seat and yourself so your weight won't actually be on it during the ride.

I rode backwards on the B&M trains a couple years ago during Fright Fest and and it's funny because at the time the Morgan trains were really rough but the B&M trains were pretty smooth or at least unremarkable. Now the B&M trains are extremely painful but the Morgan trains have been giving unusually smooth rides. Perhaps there was some track work or something done a while back to accommodate the Morgan trains which didn't agree with the B&M's.

There is that chance, but they are less likely to run out of platinum than regular or gold. It takes a really really busy day for them to sell out of any level, it doesnt happen often. I was there on saturday of labor day weekend last year which is one of the busiest of the year and they didn't sell out. I dont know where there's a list of those, I know obviously you can't reride YOLO or X2, I know you can reride Ninja, Scream, Riddler's, and Viper. I *think* you can't reride Green Lantern (although it has single rider line, so you can get back on fast anyway). Generally the more popular rides or rides with complicated (or low capacity) loading are less likely to allow it. Take advantage of Single Rider Line on Lex, Riddlers, and Green Lantern if you don't have a big group, can save you a ton of time.

Unfortunately you cannot change from one type to another, although if money is not an object you could always just return the gold and buy a platinum. Again unless you want to buy YOLOCoaster passes or ride twice in a row the platinum is pointless. You can absolutely exit the park. You are asked to take your flash pass device to the return window and let the staff know you're coming back, they will hold it for you until you return to the park. I usually head for one of the two major coasters without flash pass (X2 or YOLOCoaster) before getting my flash pass since park opening is one of the few times to do that without a line. If either of these two coasters are running one train, hit that one right away when the park opens because the line will be long all day. If both are running 2+ trains, then you can take your pick of which one to hit first and hit the other in the afternoon.

$50/$55 for all that? What a crazy good deal. If it didn't cost me another $1000 in travel I'd be all over this!

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that you didn't get it, just kind of making a general statement/question

^ Was this not already common knowledge? It was fairly obvious to me when they released the earnings/rankings.

Well here's the deal. They way it's advertised is that the regular gives you the same wait as the standby line except you don't have to do your waiting in line, the gold reduces the wait by 50%, the platinum reduces the wait by 90% and gives you the option to remain in your seat after your first lap and take a second ride (on some rides, not all). In reality, both the gold and the platinum give you roughly 90% off of the wait time. I always get the gold and in my experience almost every ride is 5-10 min wait. The only ones that are usually a long ~45min wait are the water rides in summer. With the wait time being mostly equal, the only real advantages to the platinum are the ability to purchase reservations for YOLOCoaster for $15 and the double ride, and for me the double ride loses it's appeal when you have to remain in the same seat. If I'm going to double ride I'd want to do front and back row which you aren't allowed to do. So the gold in my opinion is the best deal. It's not complicated to use at all, in fact I like the Flash Pass a lot more than the Fast Lane. You get a little digital pager-type thing where you can scroll through the list of rides and it tells you what time your ride will be ready for each. When you select one it starts waiting until the posted time and then it flashes and vibrates to let you know your ride is ready. When you walk up to the flash pass entrance an employee near the station will have a device that reads yours and resets it; as soon as they read your device you can reserve your next ride. Most people will reserve their next ride while still in the station for the first one and it will be ready by the time you get off the ride. Flash Pass lines also most often tend to merge with the regular line much closer to loading than Fast Lane. Oh one big heads up - I found out the hard way if you go during fright fest they put the mazes on the flash pass device. If you're there for the mazes that's cool, but I think there's a limit to the number of possible attractions on the flash pass because during fright fest a good chunk of coasters that normally support flash pass wont be on the list.

They used to be only slightly better than Wicked Twister but earlier this year all the belts got replaced and they're all a little longer now (and also all the same length unlike before). If you were close on Wicked Twister like me (I made it but only just) you should be fine on V2. Saturdays are almost always more crowded than Sundays barring events.

The promo rides were April 30-May 4, 2013. I was there on 4/30. They started adding the new walls and tunnels right after the promo shoots due to noise complaints from a neighboring business. They were recently seen standing on the roof with decibel meters again, so I wouldn't be surprised if more tunnels and/or walls were added later.

I would say yes. And I would recommend the gold flash pass I always say wait until you get to the park and you can see the crowds to decide whether you need one, but if you do get one definitely get the gold. The platinum is a waste of money.

Unless your friends are serious coaster enthusiasts (For regulars in this thread I just mean they really want to ride roller coasters more than anything else, not necessarily the usual definition of the term) and thrill coasters are their main interest, SFMM is not the most convenient place to take small children. The children will enjoy KBF way way more, and KBF still has a couple really solid coasters in Xcelerator and Silver Bullet. (Sierra Sidewinder is a pretty fun spinner too) I'm not aware of any official ride-swap program like Disney has, but there are a handful of rides (Viper, Revolution, Green Lantern, Riddler's Revenge, and Lex Luthor) that have single riders lines that you could effectively use as a ride-swap. They have a separate line where a single rider can que to ride alone at a significantly reduced wait time (On most busy days you will walk-on to Viper, Revolution, and Riddlers, you may get a 10 min wait on GL and 15-20 on Lex) so you could have one person watch the children while the other uses the single rider line. With the short waits it wouldn't be that bad, but it's only available on these specific rides. Interestingly on busier days the wait can often be shorter for Green Lantern and Lex Luthor because there's a higher probability of a large group with an odd number of riders.

I doubt it, but I was wondering yesterday about the fate of the B&M Psyclone trains. I wonder if they could use them on Apocalypse, and if not I hope someone preserves some of them since they are the first and only wooden coaster trains ever built by B&M.