roland303

Thanks! Yeah, I figured somewhere like Disneyland is a better bet for young kids. We may be going there (Disneyland) this winter with my mother-in-law (her favorite place). It's just that the direction we come from (Fresno area),we pass SFMM on the way to L.A. and my daughter has pointed it out before, indicating she wants to go there. She definitely has an appetite for rides (LOVES Santa Cruz Boardwalk) but I had a feeling that SFMM was just too much in the way of older kids and adult rides and not enough kids stuff.

Playing Capsized and Atom Zombie Smasher on PC. Been thinking about Frozen Synapse...... . And I'm waiting for both Tribes games to be released (Tribes:Ascend and Firefall).

Hi, kinda new-ish. I've been thinking about visiting SFMM with my kids (right now, they're 2 and 5). What age do you think the park starts being more appropriate for them to visit? I know a lot of rides won't open up to them until they're at least 4 feet tall (which my daughter is almost at) but should I wait a couple of more years before visiting?

That looks like an interesting dark ride. It kinda reminds me of Fire in the Hole from Silver Dollar City. I do find it odd that they are going with what could be easily construed as a morbid tribute to Appalachian/Pennsylvanian coal mining history but then again, the original Fire in the Hole had paintings of local legends the Baldknobbers, who where essentially a riff on the Klan.

I am re-reading Mike Mignola's and Christopher Golden's Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. It's really quite good with excellent woodcut-inspired artwork. For those with a Bram Stoker/H.P. Lovecraft thing with some exotic mythologies thrown in for good measure (Nordic, Romanian, Italian, Native American). I recommend it! Also, some Conan adventures with Kurt Busiek writing and Cary Nord illustrating. Not really "horror" but there are a lot of creepy moments in that series.

Nice TR! You were at SFDK the same weekend I was! I have to agree with your ride assessments except I didn't do Kong (oh hell no) and I thought Roar! was not too rough. Medusa was only a 25 minute wait on a Sunday afternoon. Now I need to get us over to Santa Cruz to the Boardwalk! And Santa Cruz is a great town for just cruisin' and chillin'. Of course, there are too many damn vampires.... .

Thanks! I was surprised on how well the zoo/aquarium displays went with the park overall. The rides by themselves are good but wouldn't make a fabulous park. And it helps that my daughter goes ape*&^% over animals in general. While not everything is geared for the whole family, there are so many varied attractions that any age of person can find something. I am glad my two-year old had such a great time, I was a little worried that she would be overwhelmed or scared by a lot of things. The funny thing was, she kept wanting to go on the big coasters like Roar! ! She'd point and go "Coaster.. I RIDE."

It was a fantastic day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom this last weekend with awesome cool weather cooperating. It helped that a potentially nightmarish trip (nine adults, seven children) went as smoothly as it could have gone. On to the TR! I had never been to the park before, so I was eager to hit some rides before it got too crowded. Thanks to some good advice from other TPR members (mahalo to everyone), I was able to hit everything I wanted to and even a couple of things that I didn't. The park itself is set in a nice area by the bay, with an brackish inlet coming up to the backside of the park. While there is construction all around in Vallejo, the park manages to be somewhat scenic if not entirely beautiful. The funny thing to me is that the park's coasters are all laid up front, with V2 hanging over the entrance like...uh....hmmmmm. Must..avoid...genitalia...references... . Anyways, I guess it does build the "anticipation" a bit. Medusa is a sexy piece of machinery that manages to be the best ride in the park by a hair. Kong is splayed out right next to Medusa; unfortunately, it suffers greatly by comparison. After wrangling the family together, I split off with my 8-year old niece and her stepbrother to hit Roar!. There was barely a line and I have to say it doesn't disappoint at all! While not having much airtime, it does have some nice speedy drops and great lateral forces. Pretty fun although it lacks something to make it really awesome. Yeah, they've only got one train in operation and the other looks like it's being mothballed or worked on. Too bad:(. Still having a smile on my face, we walked across the park to meet up with my wife and her parents. My wife was gushing about the Boomerang coaster and my smile faded away like a drunk uncle at the family reunion. BUT I never have been on one, so I had to go do it. It is exciting in a fashion but when we went backwards through the inversions, it was more like "oh sweet jeebus". My wife, however, went two more times on it. I love that woman, I tells ya! We hit a slew of kid's stuff after this and let me say that this park is awesome for kids ages 2-10. It really has a lot of stuff geared to them and my 2-year old daughter, Amaelia, was no exception. There was a ThomasTown, a LooneyTunes Seaport area, and the tropical/African themed area (which I forget the name of)- all loaded with slides, fountains, mini-rides, etc. On top of that, the animal attractions really are integrated rather well in to the park. My daughter loves giraffes and tigers and all that and really had a blast checking out the animals. I personally have mixed feelings about zoos and caged performing animals but recognize the education and entertainment value they can have for the general public. How else you gonna see lions and cougars? Also, the shows are generally great even though we only hit two- the Shouka killer whale show and the walrus show. Amaelia was so amped up during the techno-fied Shouka show I thought she was going to have an aneurysm! She loved it and I have to admit it was pretty good. After catching that show, me and the wife ditched out to ride Medusa, one of my new favorite coasters. Mind you, I have not been on lots of coasters or been to tons of parks but this ride was great. The line moved fairly quickly despite being super busy in the park and I just loved it. The drop is probably the best part and the Immelmans(?) were pretty cool. Yes, it's very smooth. My wife then ditched me to go on it again with her friend- Thanks hon!! Finally, I wanted to hit Roar! again but the line was moving out the building so I opted for V2. Honestly did not know what to expect but I really liked this ride. It was not rough at all and to be honest, it has the best drop in the whole park (going down the back spike). Really fast and a neat sensation going up over the park on the forward spike. The line was like five minutes, tops. I was impressed with the operations at this park. Kudos to the staff there! And that was that. No Tony Hawk (line was consistently an hour or more), no Kong (looking at the people strapped in those restraints, I felt their pain). Overall, the park was a great family experience and it definitely had a nice array of rides to satisfy most tastes. I would like to think it could use a real top-notch ride or at least some tweaking on their existing rides (two trains on Roar! please?). Maybe a good drop tower or dark ride would be nice but to be honest, it really is being nitpickey. This park is aiming for a real family experience and has combined thrill rides, shows, and both zoo and aquarium experiences for a real wide variety of entertainment. And it was a great experience, can't wait to go back. Some random comments: -The whitewater rapids ride looked very underwhelming. -The Dolphin Harbor exhibit had some sad dolphins in there. One even had a floppy dorsal fin! -Shark Experience was cool if a little short. I like sharks and I wish they had more educational aspects to the exhibit. -Maybe because I'm getting older but my tolerance for spinning rides is almost nil. That's why I skipped things like Tazmanian Devil. -Oh yeah! The food was pretty sucky! The familia. Dork on the right would be me. Part of Looney Tunes Seaport, where we spent a lot of time. Pretty fun for the kids, I must say. The ice cream monster has awoken. GIMME SOME CANDY!!! Hey Lady, I'm Shouka, I'm kinda of a big deal around here. Wife and friend's daughter enjoying some shade. Of all the coasters, this is the most memorable....for the wrong reasons. Random tiger shot. This one's thinking "Why can't I live at the SF Zoo?". That's a Bay Area insider-joke...kinda. Little Bunchkins gets her peach fix out of the way before heading to the park.

Nice Better Off Dead reference! Jeez, this place looks awesome.

Thanks all! Not only is it my daughter but my 4-year old nephew and 2 and half year old niece, plus in-laws galore. Just figured a ride here and there would be a nice break now and then. If I can, I will try a TR. But since I'm not hitting half the rides, not sure if it will be "complete".

Any suggestions? I'm going there this Sunday with family in tow (including my two-year old daughter). I would like to ride Roar and Medusa, other rides are only secondary interest. Thanks!

Just asking. I went there a few years ago and while I don't have any photos, it was an interesting little park. One of those "hybrid" parks where they have both a water park and a traditional theme park area, it was definitely a little hit-and-miss. The "theme park" area is across a small man-made lake from the water park area. It contained a small to medium sized woodie called Thunderhawk which is by far the best thing in the park. And it of itself is probably only a moderately thrilling ride with some nice headchoppers, some fast but small drops, and a very convoluted track. Not a lot of airtime though. There is a steel coaster by the name of Wild Thing, which is a single looping coaster that screams 1976 and should not be called wild by any stretch of the imagination. There's also a mouse-ride, a splash-boat, a swinging axe flat ride, and a some other random things thrown around in there. The water park is better but only because it has the three basics for a successful water park: a decent waterslide tower, a good rapids-style ride, and the requisite lazy-river area. Not a bad park at all but kind of small and lacking in really good attractions. Anybody been here lately?

Yay for Enchanted Forest and Thrillsville!! I used to live in Corvallis; we hit the Enchanted Forest one summer day. I have to say, it's not a bad park ,especially for those in the 5-12 age range. Ice Mountain is one strange coaster, a bit of a terrain coaster with a little Space Mountain thrown in. Yes, the haunted house was surprisingly good (and old-school). Even had the musty smell down pat! And Thrillsville- too bad. I just rode the Ripper, a very fun if scary mouse-like coaster. I think it was starting to fade even when I rode it in 2004; it had noticeable rust all around, squeaking, and crazy sounds. Didn't do much else at Thrillsville. Oregon could sure use another theme park. I suppose there is the Enchanted Village/Wild Waves up in Sea-Tac.... . Didn't ever go to Oaks Park. How was that?

That cat-thing is Doraeman, super popular in Japan and Korea. He's in manga, anime, etc. Probably see rides themed with this guy everywhere.

Pete4Winds, the Curtis Wilbur sounds awfully familiar. I too did the Nav, from 92'-96', and am a plankowner on the USS Lake Erie, an Aegis-class guided missle cruiser that was stationed out of Honolulu. Also did Dubai, Guam, Singapore, HK, and did Pusan, Jeddah, Oman, Perth, Darwin, and Egypt. Went to Mogadishu to help extract Marines and of course we hovered around the Persian Gulf in case something happened. We busted a lot of date smugglers. Yes, you heard that right- date smugglers. As in the kind you eat..... . I did take in a theme park in Singapore (to keep things relevant to this site) called Haw-Par Villa, a theme park based on the Tiger Balm brand of ointments. A very strange log flume ride that focused on the nine levels of Chinese hell (I think) was what I remembered. I liked my visits but as they were often restricted, I didn't like them as much as I would have. My highlights include: drinking, surfing in Australia, almost getting killed in Egypt, plying the souks in Dubai for gifts, and drinking. FUN FACT: A lot of beer overseas has formaldehyde in it or at least the Heineken I always drank did.