singemfrc

Yeah see you probably just luck out and get the orange train every time. I think most people don't usually ride Kong enough times in a row to put 2 and 2 together, but I was puzzled by every once and a while getting a nice ride and once in a while getting multiple concussions, so I rode several times in a row front and back on both trains to figure out where the trouble was. Definitely the evil yellow train. From now on I'll just wait out the orange train.

Once again I stumbled on a day that's way busier than it should be..I have a real knack for that. Still, got my SP processed as planned and managed to get several rides in before 1:30 when the lines were starting to get out of control, even with all coasters running two trains that could. I wanted to get a second ride in on SUF but by the time I headed over there it was a 45 min wait so I just left. I did manage to get several rides on Kong and concluded that the orange train is awesome, especially in the back row; the yellow train is absolutely evil. The train shakes significantly more than the orange one and on top of that it has different OTSRs (or at least different "padding") that gives much less room for your head to move, resulting in the pinball effect. If you want a decent ride on Kong, try back row orange. It's still no B&M, but it's a world of difference. First ride of the day: Kong back row. Yep I walk in the park and go straight for Kong. I'm that guy. This is the evil yellow train. Note the Vekoma death grip being firmly applied. Vekoma..I think that means "You're a long way from China." Or maybe "Hold on for dear life." Oh yeah, finally get my fix on SUF! Rode in row 4, cramped quarters. I can definitely see why they don't have bigger people in this row. Lots and lots of wood. Rode back row of Roar, yes there's a little bit of airtime, but it just beats the hell out of you so much you don't even notice it unless you're looking for it. This is literally the only sign in the entire park for Boomerang....on the ride itself. For some reason it seems they really don't want you to find it. You can see six coasters from the Kong station. Well I think I know how that guy got in to climb Medusa. There doesn't appear to be any lock whatsoever on this gate, and the ride is open. I believe this gate is powered and you need a remote to open it from outside, but there's still a gap large enough to just squeeze in if you're of a mind. In light of recent events they might be wise to correct this.

Actually if they want to run their "A" crew on Tatsu (Both stations? I about fell out of my chair!) X2 and Goliath and put the slow guys on Riddler and Scream, that's OK by me. I wanna see that Goliath crew on Tatsu. Every day.

That looks amazing. If I ever make it to China to ride DC I'm definitely going to have to ride this too.

I'm really enjoying all the love Vekoma is getting via the Chinese knock off SLC's

There are so many I've yet to ride, but the ones that qualify for "Bucket List" level are: 1. Eejanaika (4D S&S in Japan) 2. Outlaw Run 3. Kingda Ka 4. El Toro 5. Dinoconda (Brand new 4D S&S in China) And technically you could add X2 to to the top of that list..I rode it a bunch as X but havent been to SFMM since 2008. Going to rectify that in a few weeks. Yes, I'm the 4D coaster's #1 fan

I didn't even know SF was doing "Gold Passes" now, but I assume they will do it like they did when you bought a parking pass in the past and just scan the bar code on your voucher and then let you in just like they would do if they scanned your season pass. Usually the park opens SP Processing right away since they are doing their end of the year push for 2013 Pass sales and typically have a lot of people processing, that said I would wait till the evening to process when the crowds are typically much smaller, unless you go there first thing before any rides. Also the toll booths take credit cards so I wouldn't worry about carrying cash. Thanks on all counts. I absolutely am planning on getting there before the park opens and going straight to SPP, that's the primary reason I'm going on Saturday, I want to get this processed so I can use it at SFMM next month...but if I can sneak in some rides while the lines are short I definitely will.

Ab-so-freaking-lutely.

I've been thus far unsuccessful trying to reach anyone at the park by phone either while the park is open or while their admin offices are open, so hopefully someone here will be able to answer a couple quick questions I have. Just bought a Gold Pass for the first time and want to get it processed this Sunday. What I'm wondering is, will SP Processing always open at the same time as the park or would it possibly sometimes open a few hrs later? Also if you buy a voucher for season parking, do you have to pay for parking when you go to get it processed (since it's just a voucher at that point) or do they waive it due to having the voucher? I assume they waive it the first time just like park admission since you've technically paid for it, just want to make sure so I know how much cash to have on hand when I drive down there. (I'm one of those people who never carries cash unless I specifically need it for something)

Tame in terms of speed maybe, but not in fearing for your life from safety

That's what makes chinese coasters so authentic, in the US we ride coasters to get the thrill without the actual risk of death, in China, you get actual risk of death! That SLC ripoff would scare me far more than the most extreme crazy coaster anywhere in this country.

That's definitely good news, few coasters could use a paint job more than Vortex. Scream! at SFMM is probably the most in need on this coast.

Yep I agree. With the saddle a click below it was as good as Vortex gets. Vortex doesn't deserve as bad of a reputation as it has. It's not the best ride in the world, but its not like it's a Chinese SLC knock-off

I dont know what causes that exactly except that it has something to do with the orientation sensor in the phone and it encodes that information into the image. When you took the photos it thought they were upside down so it's attempting to "fix" them for you. They view fine on PCs cause they arent reading that data. The only way I've found to remove it is to open it in photoshop, rotate it one way or another, rotate it back, and then save it. That overwrites the orientation data.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, July California's Great America, September Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, September (Upcoming) Six Flags Discovery Kingdom again, in the next few weeks to get my 2013 SP processed (Upcoming) Six Flags Magic Mountain, October

Right - because at the end of the day, that is what their demographic cares about. Its easily marketable and it pulls in the "teen boy who drinks Full Throttle energy and will buy a YOLO shirt" demographic that they cater to. Its a tough pill to swallow sometimes but SFMM doesn't care about us, they care about making as much $$$ as possible. I totally get that for most parks, I mean the bottom line is always the bottom line, it's a business after all. However, SFMM like Cedar Point and a few others is one of those flagship parks where I believe having something for the coaster enthusiast is a good idea since these parks more than the smaller ones will get enthusiasts travelling from long distance. Maybe they figure they already have those in X2 and Tatsu, maybe their point of view is in fact that just the sheer number and variety of coasters is enough to draw. I hate to admit it sometimes but they'd be right in my case on the second point. Even if you took away X2 which is clearly my favorite coaster ever, I would still travel to SFMM just because I know I can ride coasters all day long and not ride the same one twice, which is a treat in and of itself, especially if you live near CGA and SFDK which have 4 and 6 coasters respectively (though CGA has a lot of great flat rides and SFDK has the animals, Im talking pure coasters)

All the season passes are always a great deal if you plan on visiting any park more than once.

^ I didn't mean to imply it was the same thing, it's just another incident that may make the park look bad in a lot of people's eyes. (Because of the perceived lack of security, not specifically because of a suicide attempt)

I went on that day several years ago and it was empty too, so that's a pretty safe bet.

Like SFDK needed any more bad press after the SUF stall. What a selfish thing to do; it sounds like he didn't plan on actually doing, but if he did, why kill yourself where kids come to have fun? That's terrible.

Hurricane @ SCBB. Last one to claim that

Well they hit 60 million riders just last month so somewhere in the neighborhood of a million per year I would imagine (exact math gives you ~680,000 but I dont think that many people were visiting in the 1920s) It seems like a lot if you havent ridden it but it's such a great ride it's so worth it. Also if you're planning on riding it (or anything else) more than 5 rides, just get an unlimited rides wristband for $29.99, or during summer weekends its like $10 with a pepsi can on tuesdays and wednesdays (done for this year though). EDIT: Forgot to mention the $10 deal is after 5pm..still a great deal I was just there for 2 rides on the hurricane, and I couldn't visit the Boardwalk without at least one ride on the dipper..I didn't have time for anything else so I just bought individual tickets.

Yeah, the crowds were crazy, but other than the extreme unpleasantness that was the drive from CGA to SCBB, it was a good day. I got 3/4 rides at CGA (minus Grizzly that was down but that didnt bug me much, main goal was FD of course) and I'm still amazed and grateful that I got my front row and back row rides on Hurricane in only two tries (Hurricane has an extremely small station, there's really nowhere to wait for the row you want). Somehow at both parks I managed to get all my rides in just before all the crowds were unbearable..I usually don't have good luck like that.

Dipper and Hurricane were both running both trains. For the most part they were dispatching pretty fast but every once in a while it seemed like the ops were just spacing out and both trains would stack in the unload area for no apparent reason. Every time I ride the 'Dipper I'm again amazed at how great the ride still is. It's easily the oldest ride I've ridden and still one of the best rides despite not having any of the modern wow factor stuff, it's just solid.

The drive from CGA to SCBB via 880 and 17 is supposed to be 1 hr, but apparently I'm not the only one who wanted to drive to Santa Cruz today..3/4 of the trip was made at less than 5mph. How long is this going to last? Yeah, all the way there. Ouch. Next time remind me not to take 880 on a holiday weekend. Yeah this is pretty much as fast as I was going the whole way there. I think it's pretty safe to take a photo with my phone at 0mph. Finally about 3 hours later I arrive at the beach and lucked into finding pretty much the only parking spot left in the city. Here is what I drove all this way for! Oh, holy s$%#. The Boardwalk has gone and turned into a giant que. I guess it gets busy on Labor Day weekend! Ah, The Giant Dipper. In 1924 it cost 15 cents to ride, today it costs $5 but 88 years later it's still the best woodie on the west coast and is worth every penny. I managed to get one front row ride in before the line got too crazy. Time for some Hurricane Hoorah! This would make a great desktop wallpaper. Dive! Dive! Yep..there are a LOT of people out here on this beautiful sunny holiday weekend! Lift me... The coaster equivelant of an upskirt shot. "The Hurricane is about to roll through..." The upper deck is just wall to wall people, and a lot of them are there for The Hurricane, though it did not seem that many people there realized it was closing. Uhh..your bucket is in the wrong place..ah hell what's one more day? The blue train. Ops were mostly doing a good job dispatching pretty fast today. The red train, on which both of my rides took place today. Somehow I managed to luck out both times in line I ended up being first in line for the next train so was able to easily snag my front and back row rides (which is good because there is no room to wait for a particular row with this coaster) Forever A couple parting shots. Hope NM enjoys you as much as I have.. Kind of a crappy shot with my hand and phone in the photo but thought it was fitting that my last photo of The Hurricane be in my rear view mirror.