singemfrc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_clubhttp://cnhkeyclub.org/events/fall-rally

Avoid at all costs is right! Key Club day up at SFDK was 10/27 and probably set a record, I can't remember ever hearing of it being this busy before: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1240187#p1240187 I think they really should in the future make the Key Club events a private party, it's just traumatizing to the poor GP that wanders in unaware. That's also probably why there was a time discrepancy..they most likely extended the hours due to KC, they did the same think at SFDK.

Maybe printing the park name is an SFDK thing...SFDK is kind of unique compared to a lot of SF parks. I'm sure it varies by park, but with my SFDK pass above they took all my reciepts and confirmations when they issued my card. However when I travelled to SFMM with it, they didn't even look at it or ask about the different park, they just scanned it (At parking, at the gates, at flash pass, and at the looney tunes store) and didn't say a word.

^ I'll see you there!

Yeah here's what my SFDK gold pass looks like: I definitely see what you're concerned about, and no doubt they will double take when they see it. As far as procedures, at both SFDK and SFMM you just hand the parking attendant the pass itself and they scan it like they would a ticket (same at the entry gate)..but I just bought the one season pass with parking included. It sounds like with yours you got a seperate pass, so that's why your pass doesn't say parking, you just need to bring your parking pass and that should work fine if they scan it. As far as I know, all of the benefits should work at all of the parks (Except where specified, like Hurricane Harbor stuff at SFMM)..Admission, parking, and gift shop discounts I can personally confirm definitely work between parks. I'm sure ERT would work as well, but they haven't had any yet. If there are any pre=planned dates it would probably be announced at the beginning of the season, but those a lot of times may be announced on short notice.

Funny..I just passed by that the other day and thought "Oh that's cool, I'll have to try that next time I'm here"..figures

^ So theyre moving Goliath up to SFDK from SFMM for the holidays? Sweet!

Yeah LLOD was awesome, and as many others have said the ride up is definitely the best part. I noticed it kind of hestitates several times where you're not sure you are yet at the top..don't know if that's intentional but it adds to the experience! The swaying is very cool not only when you're up there, but it's also pretty ominous to stand at the bottom and look up and see the whole tower swaying back and forth! Looks awesome from this angle.

SFMM has Key Club day as well and it's probably the busiest day of the year there too. Always, always stay away from the park on Key Club day!

Medusa at SFDK not that long ago. Somehow I managed to accidentally avoid B&Ms for quite a long time, but I've ridden about 10 new (to me) B&Ms this year.

X2 at SFMM offers a spectacular view since you're going up the hill backwards and you're in the southeast corner of the park facing northwest. Colossus offers a great view when facing backwards too.

That is true..they said they're creating a whole new "section" of the park, FT is only part of it.

Yeah I don't think there's hardly ever a point in running 3 trains on any ride other than Tatsu because without the second station they would just stack ridiculously. Most rides would do fine with 2 trains with ops doing a decent job. Tatsu could really benefit from that second station being used with or without the third train. Even if they just used it to unload one train at the same time as the other one is being loaded it would drastically improve efficiency. The only rides running one train were Revolution and Riddler's, everything else was running 2. Colossus was only running the backwards side, but had 2 trains on it. For the record the crew I saw working Tatsu last weekend I thought were doing a fine job for the most part, only outdone by the X2 crew. The LLOD crew was also doing a great job. The only bad crew I saw was Riddler's, they just didn't seem like they cared in the slightest. I got the impression that they were the newest employees and this was the bottom rung of the ride-op ladder.

^ LL is the only one I think would be better in the daytime (I rode it at night, it was down when we went by in the day) since you can better see how high up you are

^ one page back please.

^ I would be elated if they would just run a second train when the line got longer than 30-40 mins.

I went on Sunday, Viper's line wasnt long at all all of Sunday, 20 mins was probably the longest about the time you went on it, it was a walk-on after that. It was Saturday that it was out the queue and down the path. I was in line for Riddler's from about 7:15 to 8:25. To be fair and accurate they do run two trains on Tatsu, the complaint is that they never use the second station (and third train) even when the wait exceeds 2 hours. The Tatsu ride-ops did seem to be doing a decent job though on Sunday, they weren't sprinting but they weren't wasting any time. The Scream ops were the only other ones that got on my nerves just a bit..the op who was doing the dispatch was requiring people to sing along with "If you're happy and you know it" and if he didn't get the participation he wanted, he refused to dispatch the train until he did..even when the other train was stacked waiting to get into the station. He was playing a game trying to get people into it and all, I dont want to make it sound like he was being an ass or something, but Scream did have a decent line (by Scream standards anyway) of 15 or 20 minutes, so IMO as soon as that other train came in and stopped they should be dispatching as soon as it's safe. I'm making more of a deal out of it than it was though. Only Riddler's and Scream had ops that seemed to be underperforming, the X2 team was on the ball as usual and as I mentioned above I thought the Tatsu team was doing a good job as well. I never noticed how much time it took to load a flier until I paid attention to it. I wouldn't think so..I don't think they'd be using the same one train all the time, I would think that even if they did, the wear and tear on that one train would just double creating the same amount of work (same amount of riders and cycles regardless). There has to be some other reason for Riddler's though, since it's just so egregious on that particular ride and it was been that way for so long. I got a pretty telling photo of the Riddler's ride ops that I almost posted, but I don't think it's necessary to smear any particular employee(s) it's always like that on that ride from what I hear. Between the slow loading, the disorganized que, the mechanical failures in the station (not the ride mechanics - sound, lighting, etc) and the general filth in the building, that ride is in serious need of a rehab closure. I really hope SFMM invests in it because it is a solid ride, especially for a stand up; it beats the hell out of Vortex that's for sure.

A short mini TR from my trip to the park Sunday: Drove from Sacramento at 4:30am to get to the park by opening and arrived right on time and thanks to Discover, got in the park 5 minutes early getting me on the first X2 train of the day. As soon as I got off the train the line was halfway through the switchback, but I waited again about 35 mins or so figuring it was only going to get worse so best to do it now! Good decision, great way to start of the day! In my happy place! Gold flash pass was nice, saved a ton of time riding Tatsu three times only waiting a few trains each time as opposed to 45-60 min waits on standby most of the day and also a big chunk of time for Colossus which was quite busy. Only backwards trains running, wish the regular trains were running as well. Took these sunset photos from the Colossus lift hill: Colossus backwards was worth the wait. Maybe its just because you can't see what to expect, maybe it's the Psyclone trains, maybe it's just me.. but there seemed to be quite a bit more airtime than usual. Speaking of airtime, LOVED Apocalypse which I haven't ridden before. Definitely my second favorite woodie on the west coast (next to Giant Dipper). This ride definitely doesn't get the love it deserves. Unfortunately flash pass was not running on Green Lantern which won the award for most ridiculous line of the day at somewhere between 90-120 minutes, and from what I've heard wouldn't be worth the wait so it was skipped. More unfortunately was no FP on Riddler's (Is this normal? Based on what I've heard of the ops for this ride, I guessed yes - also wondered if perhaps less coasters were available on the FP due to the mazes being on them) which despite 60+ min waits all day was not running a second train and (most of) the ride ops did not seem to be to concerned about it. Riddler's was running pretty smooth though and was nice in the dark so all is forgiven. The mess of a crowd in the Riddler's station. Unexpected highlight of the day was Goldrusher in the dark - very very cool! Highly recommended. Was at the park from open to close, took a ton more photos but most are nothing everyone here hasn't seen many times before. One more great thing to add - the scare actors working the Riddler's area with the metal "pads" attacked to their hands knees and feet get an A+ for scaring the crap out of just about everyone sliding on the ground and sending up sparks. They were really doing a great job blending in looking like GP in the dark and then exploding into a giant mess of sparks! One girl was so terrified she refused to leave the Riddler's que and cross the plaza and had to be dragged out by her friends

It's never guaranteed to be accurate because it's user driven, and there is of course no way the app knows whether you're submitting true information, but it does use GPS to ensure that only people in the park can submit times (and that is pretty accurate, I've tried submitting a time right outside the park and it does not allow it) but when I've been using the app at the park I've seen mostly accurate times..it's better to get an idea for how busy a ride is rather than an exact measurement of the line length. I talked to an X2 ride op on Sunday who said the park was so busy Saturday they kept all the rides going until 12:30. Logic would suggest that would be a good idea, but at this park, not necessarily. Especially not on Riddler's. I did notice Sunday that halfway through the day when the line was up to about 60 minutes they added the second side of SEFK that wasn't running in the morning. It's usually not too far off, when I've seen crazy inaccurate times up they've been replaced pretty quick with better ones. I've also noticed (both at SFDK and SFMM) that for whatever reason there seem to be more submissions (and this more accurate times) in the morning. The submissions pretty much completely fall off when it gets dark and it becomes pretty useless. There is also a helpful feature where you can "check in" when you get in line and then when you're about to get on the train you can "check out" and it submits the time you've waited, so you don't have to guess. If the app required this method without allowing the instant submission, it would be a lot more accurate. Probably less people willing to wait 2 hours to enter a bogus time.

Only day I saw busier than this was that one day in july that was SPH free friend day.

Uhh yep. Extremely busy day at the park. If it's anywhere near this busy tomorrow it will be worth every penny for that gold flash pass.

Phew it is going to be a busy day at the park today I think. 10 mins after opening X2 had a 45 min line and it's already up to 120+ now. Hope it's not this busy tomorrow..I'm going to try and get there in time for the traditional run to X2 in the morning to get my rides in, but worst case Ive got a gold fp and ill buy an x2 fp if I really have to I was thinking the other day it would be a cool idea to have a webcam or 2 at the park so we could check on the actual crowd level before heading down, but maybe they don't want to discourage more people to come on already busy days.

Yeah that just doesnt look very good.

Thanks, much appreciated

Question for those of you who visit the park frequently..I'm planning on going Sunday (not to see the cup haha) and the forecast is currently showing rain..which rides are the quickest to shut down in the rain, and how much rain does it usually take to cause a closure? I'm guessing SEFK, X2 and Goliath would be the first just based on speed. Currently it looks like its just a chance of scattered showers I just want to be prepared.