singemfrc

Wow, here's something you don't see every day. Color footage of The Boardwalk from 1955, including on and off ride footage of Giant Dipper! This is pretty amazing film! (Starts at 1:34) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAxZb7UEis0

I was thinking the same thing. SF says "Here's a ride." CF says "I'll see your ride and raise you placement and theming." SF says "What are placement and theming?"

Agreed, this thing looks amazing and I think there's finally enough now to get me all the way out there to SDC.

Yeah I dont really get disappointment over clones, if it's a clone of a great ride then it's great.

The world would be such a better place if more media outlets took this position. This is why I love TPR.

If it's down for the day or long term, the FP office will tell you. They probably won't know if it's just going to be late opening. Single ride is the same as single reservation. The only ride that used to literally make reservations as in you had to schedule it at the beginning of the day was X2, but I heard they don't do that anymore, you can just show up whatever time you want once per day.

The quick answer is not usually. X2 has a habit of being slow to open, sometimes 15-30 mins after the park. It also is very sensitive to rain and wind and will close quickly with just a bit of either. Watch the track before you're entering the park and watch/listen for trains being test cycled. If you don't see any trains cycling before the park opens, it won't open immediately. If you have the free FP ride with the platinum, just hit it later and start with something sure to be open. I'm not sure you really do understand, because TC and X2 are both limited due to capacity (and/or popularity in X2's case - it could probably take unrestricted FP if it were average popularity, but it's always popular) and TC is limited because it's the newest major coaster, and I think a large # of FP riders might affect the operators' ability to keep the trains dueling...I'm not sure as I've never FP'd that ride and can't recall where FP joins the que)And also regarding X2, it used to be upcharge & reservation for platinum only, then it was $+res for Gold+, now they've made a free one time res for Platinum - they're certainly trying. In a park we all love to rip on for operations I'm for giving credit where I think it's due. Yeah I'm pretty sure it will be a flat, probably the same Giant Discovery SFDK got. Could be a really great addition.

Yeah I agree, or perhaps as an AR experience while waiting in line. Would be kinda cool to have something like a headset to find and/or shoot video game enemies for high score while in line. Seems like something Disney would probably do before SF.

For Revo it's actually gold or platinum and the reason it is 1 res only is because of the horrendous dispatch times. If they have too many FP riders, it slows the line down even more. Superman is the same, it is also platinum and one reservation only now. Good news there is they have been running both sides lately. YOLO is also one reservation only with gold or plat. Oh actually I just looked at MM's FP page and apparently the policy has changed with X2 - now one reservation is included with platinum Flash Pass, with gold you still have to purchase it as an add on like it was before. Twisted Colossus is single reservation only, but can be done with any Flash Pass. Don't know why X2 was on one train, I dont think its planned maintenance, they wouldn't do that on X2 in the summer, probably mechanical issues with the other train. May or may not be the same when you get there.

X2 is still as popular as ever, and lately it has been running only 1 train which results in a very long and slow moving (2hr+) line that doesnt die in the afternoon like it normally would. Revolution is the one that is way different than before. Due to the VR causing insane 5+ minute dispatches and removal of both single rider line and normal flash pass use, Revolution's line hits 60min+ right when the park is open and stays long all day. It does VR all day, but you can opt out and tell them you don't want to use VR and just ride it normally. Unfortunately you don't get to skip any of the line for this. I usually head for Revolution first and then go further up the hill to X2. Even if X2 is running only one train, you may only wait 45-60 min if you do it early. Or you could get a platinum flash pass and an X2 reservation, and hit both of those whenever you feel like. Revolution is now platinum flash pass only and 1 reservation per day. X2 is same as before, Gold+ and $10 to reserve. Tatsu is hit or miss. It's still popular, but the line isn't always out of control. You can get lucky and catch it after some downtime and walk right on it. If you do opt for the Flash Pass, it works well on Tatsu. YOLO's popularity is waning. Unless the park is very busy, it usually hovers around 30-40min waits on average days. Twisted Colossus is popular, but it always runs 3 trains and has some of the best operations in the park, so even if the line seems long, it moves fast. Unless they're using the switchback stantions outside the covered queue, it won't be a long wait. Justice League is like you said, kinda long lines but not overwhelming. Only bad thing is most of the queue is outside against the building and of course being MM there's no cover, so with the heat radiating off of the white building it gets kind of miserable.

What SFMM tried to do on TC to race lol But of course that is SF, I know Knotts would do it correctly, or anyone else for that matter. It's fun to laugh at SFMM's operations but they usually do a pretty good job here. The crew is always hustling to try and race the trains, ultimately it's out of their hands most of the time, if just one or two guests isnt ready or has loose items that need to be moved or a restraint that needs to be checked then it throws off the timing. I've never seen the crew not hustling though, which is definitely unusual for SFMM. The Twisted Colossus and X2 crews are always where their best ops are, the rest of the park not so much.

That freeway under construction is the 101/680 interchange. I guess it still wasn't finished in 1977. www.mercurynews.com/2016/01/08/san-joses-infamous-monument-to-nowhere-freeway-interchange-finally-named-after-joe-colla/ Thank you, I was wondering what that was!

It hasn't been down long term, but V2 is extremely finicky. If some kid so much as breathes on an air gate it goes down for hours. It goes down all the time. When I get to the park if I see its running I always say ride it now because you never know if it will be running later. It definitely is. Ironic because I think Medusa is probably less thrilling than Skyscreamer. Though if you come back during Fright Fest they run Skyscreamer backwards, which is pretty fun. Do Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's Berry Farm - definitely the best. You get misted/sprayed a bit but you don't really get soaked, and the ride itself is very well done. One of the best long rides there is.

I thought so..couldn't remember off the top of my head what names it had when.

Scanning my family's old Super 8 and 8mm film reels to computer and came across a couple marked "Great America 7/77", thought you all would appreciate this pretty rare footage of the park when it was only a year old. There are a couple quick shots of Whizzer, lots of good footage of Turn Of The Century, and several things that arent at the park anymore. I think Tidal Wave was probably under construction when this was filmed, but I didn't see it in the video. There's also some kinda neat footage of driving down the 680 from Sacramento showing a freeway overfly still under construction somewhere in the south bay.

Darn, looks like they couldn't work it out for this year. That's ok, I look forward to the next one in 9/18. We should have some really good stuff added to both parks by then.

Yes, in the thread about why they don't do public trips other than WCB anymore it came up and Robb mentioned that they are busy during the usual time this year but they are still planning on doing one, I'm guessing later than usual because we'd probably know already if it was earlier. I'm looking forward to it and it will be nice to do it during a different (cooler?) part of the year. Oh here it is, I found his post. It was posted on 4/25.

If all that matters is number of coasters, then SFDK has more. SCBB is a far better park and a much nicer place to spend a day though, not even close. And though SCBB only has two coasters, they are both excellent. Giant Dipper is a classic and one of the best traditional woodies out there. Undertow is a very smooth comfortable spinner that gives a very different ride each time and has some amazing views. But SCBB is more than just coasters..take some friends, enjoy the beach, do some shopping, have some salt water taffy and take in a concert.

The one at SFOT ALWAYS has a full queue. Its a great ride. Lots of speed, airtime, and height. I was at the park on Friday and mentioned to one of the department directors that I enjoyed the Giant Frisbee at DK and would like to see one here, and he quickly said to keep an eye out, I'd likely see one here soon. He was asking lots of people in the gold pass line if they had also been to DK and what they liked more about one park than the other.I always take stuff from any emps with a grain of salt, and "Director" is a little more reliable than "Dippin' Dots server", but even if true, you never know if it's ordered, planned, or just discovered. That said though I would like to see one at the mountain. Anyhow, I was in town a day early for a concert on Saturday, so decided to hit the park for a quick trip on Friday. I had planned on trying out Justice League, but it proved to be more popular than I thought (at least on this day), and SFMM proved to be SFMM by having absolutely no shade over the outside queue, so I skipped it rather than stand in the 105 degree heat outside for 60+ minutes with the sun reflecting off of the white concrete building at me. It was HOT out there on Friday. (By the way, blowing hot air on Orient Express? Boo! Fix the A/C!) I hit Revolution first because VR was running and I knew it would be my only chance to get on it quick. Still waited 30+ minutes for it to open, sure feels like they run a crazy amount of test cycles on it in the morning compared to other coasters. Good decision though, it was over an hour all day from the moment the park opened. Did X2 next for basically the same reason, I wasnt going to be at the park late, so it was morning or nothing. Also a good decision because it was 1 train operation and dispatches were extraordinarily slow even by X2 standards. I waited about 60 for it, my longest wait of the day, but man its worth it I just can never get enough of that ride for one lifetime. I can only ride once or twice a day, but I could ride it every day for the rest of my life. As soon as I got off the ride, the line was spilling out the entrance with all the switchbacks being used. ~120 min wait most of the day as long as I was there. I made a point of hitting Goliath since I didn't get to it during WCB last year. Never really thrilling, but always fun. I liked that they changed the advertising on it to Impractical Jokers. Loved that they were running both sides of Superman, saw some lucky lucky folks on LL who got a Superman car when they were about 1/3 up and then another Superman car on the other side when they were 2/3 up. That must have been quite a ride. I got a vanilla ride on LL unfortunately, but I still love it. I also got a vanilla ride on Green Lantern. I saw some people right before me get some crazy multi-flip rides, but my car was perfectly balanced and we didn't even come close to flipping, and it was a pain free but also thrill free ride. Did the single rider for Riddlers. Still my favorite SRL, I love that no matter what day, what time, or how busy the park, you can virtually always just walk right onto whatever train is in the station without waiting. Big surprise of the day was Apocalypse. I made a point to get to it too since I hadnt ridden in a while and I wanted to see if the rumors were true that the latest rehab made a difference. I was skeptical, but they are true! No one would call it a "smooth" coaster, but by god it's actually enjoyable now. Not as drastic an improvement as Ghost Rider, but they've improved it to the point where it's just a regular wooden coaster now. If you haven't ridden since the latest rehab, try it out.

It would be nice if it was longer, but it's such a sudden stop that the brakes actually enhance the ride for me. Ideally the ride should be longer but still include that sudden brake at the end, I like it.

Thats actually probably exactly the reason.

My primary goal is to ride everything. And I mean everything, not the "coaster fanatics top 3 everything." Ok, not everything, not the kids rides. but yes many of the flat rides, including the swings and teacups. So im concerned that 8 hours isnt enough time. Magic Mountain has a whopping total of 4 flat rides (plus the carousel), and they're never crowded. You won't have any issue getting on those. In my experience, the park usually isn't crowded on days when they close at 6:00. Like others have said, school will be in session by this point, so the park should be a ghost town during the day. On uncrowded days, I've been able to cover every coaster in the park (excluding the kiddie coasters), plus a few re-rides, in about 4 hours. So if you arrive when the park opens, you should be able to cover everything (and even have a few re-rides) before the park closes. Yeah I agree I don't think it will be an issue. Should be extremely light crowds and walk-ons for almost everything. And if not, that's what a Flash Pass is for.

Its not unusual, theyre not closing early for an event, its just that school is back in and they dont expect to be as busy. Look at every Friday for about 6 weeks afer, they close at 6pm every Friday until Fright Fest starts up. It's just a time of year where Fridays arent as busy, so they close earlier. Count your blessings that the park won't be as busy. If you want night rides, you're gonna have to go on a Saturday and deal with the crowds. As a general rule of thumb the park just isn't usually open at night unless they're going to be busy. The busier they are, the later they stay open.

Yeah Fridays during that time period are in my opinion the best time of the entire year to go to the park. They're just barely busy enough to warrant being open, so everything is a walk-on. I'm going next Friday the 28th, and I don't think it will be as busy as when you're going, but I hope it will at least be not as busy as the following Saturday and Sunday. I don't need to hit everything anyway, I just decided last minute to stop at the park on my way anyway since I'm going down to Pasadena to catch Giants/Dodgers at Chavez Ravine and Metallica at The Rose Bowl.

That depends on what day you're going. If you're going on a Friday or Saturday, then they're open until 8 or 9 pm because they expect to be busier. If you're going during the week, then they close at 6pm because they don't expect to be busy at the end of the day and don't want to keep rides running and employees standing around doing nothing when the park is empty. The good news is since they expect to be dead and are closing at 6, chances are the lines will be short all day.