austinlee

Glad to help. I almost never eat meals anywhere else in the park anymore. It really is a great deal. How many times have you heard someone say that anyplace inside a park had a great food price? ^^ I have noticed the same thing. Almost every time I use my discount for food they call over a supervisor for help. In the souvenir shops the cashiers have been able to give me the discount on their own.

You're welcome. I love the orange chicken too. I go to Panda Express outside the park fairly regularly anyway. With that good price and the fact that I really like it anyway, it's a very easy decision to eat there when I go to the park. With the discount the combo is only about $1.00 more than it is at a normal location. I always get the orange chicken/mandarin chicken combo at the park. From my own experience and the information posted here it seems that every major restaurant gives the discount except Longhorn's BBQ. The only food locations which don't give the discount are carts, vending machines and the smaller food stands. Every merchandise location I have shopped at has given me the discount too.

^^ Thank you for letting me know. I am surprised they don't give the discount since every other restaurant I have eaten at has given me the discount. ^ You're right about the carts and vending machines. I have also been able to get the discount at convenience shops and the Guest Neccessity Center. Mooseburger Lodge and Panda Express both give the discount. Papa John's does too, but I have never ate there since the first time I tried it since the pizza is very bland. I do use the discount to buy sodas there fairly often though. I usually eat at Panda Express because, with the discount, you can get a two item combo with a large soda for $8.61 plus tax. It is the best deal I have found for a quality large meal, drink included, at a pretty decent price which is actually not much higher than what it would cost at a Panda Express outside the park. At KBF, the combo is $11.99 and the drink is not included.

The Batfan was working when I was there on 1/31, but not on 1/10.

Thanks. I usually eat at Panda Express when I go there since most of the "normal" park food is terrible. Longhorn's BBQ seemed like another decent option. I can always ask about the discount in person if I need to.

Just curious. Have any of you ate at Longhorn's BBQ yet? If you have, was it good and do they give the 25% Xtreme Play Pass discount? I thought it smelled good and I'm thinking about trying it on my next visit, but only if they give the discount. Also, have any of you been to the park on a weekday the week before Memorial Day? I have gone the week after Memorial Day in 08 and 09 so that X2 and Terminator would be open and the park was relatively crowded. Not the most crowded I have seen but much more crowded than when I have visited in early May and had walk ons to most rides. With no new ride which I care about opening this year I am curious about how much lighter the crowds might be if I go the week before the holiday instead of the week after. I think many colleges get out in late May but I don't know exactly when.

I tried to post a link earlier today and it showed up as text. I posted a link one other time since the upgrade with no problem. I have also noticed that the "first unread post" button is skipping over some of my unread posts and starting me off later in the thread.

On my last visit on 1/31, the sound on Terminator seemed to be a little louder and much easier to understand. I was able to hear just about all of it, but before that I found it to be spotty at times and almost totally drowned out in some spots. On X2 I have never heard anything after the lift hill, but I do enjoy what they play up to that point. I think the "we are high up" which you hear at the top of the lift hill is funny. ^^ I'd go. The weather report I saw last night said there might only be very light rain or drizzle in the early morning and there is a chance that it might not hit at all. Deja Vu and Ninja are closed until 3/19 and Batman is closed starting today until 3/6 according to the parks website. Just a heads up so you aren't surprised when you get to the park and find out.

^^^^ Glad you had a great day there today and the lines were not bad except for Terminator. I agree that Terminator feels like it runs in fast forward. It doesn't really have any slow spots and I love the back for airtime. The first time my dad rode it he didn't know how fast it went. When we got off I asked him to guess and he thought it went 70 mph. I can't laugh too much though, since it does feel that fast to me too in certain spots, like the station fly-thru and the tunnel right after the exploding jeep. I also find X2 to be smoother and more comfortable than X and I have never been able to hear the soundtrack after the first drop either.

^^^ I have been a KBF pass holder since 2005 and various non-consecutive years since the mid 90's. I have not had the problems you did with paying or adding parking but I do agree that they need a more efficient way of processing season passes. When I renewed my pass in December, 09 I got right in with no wait but that was on a school day and the park was deserted. When I renewed in January, 09 the park was slightly more crowded and I had to wait one hour to renew, which is longer than I waited in line for any of the rides I went on that day.

It seems that way to me too. I have been going there about once a month since mid 2007. If Tatsu needed to close for maintenance on any kind of regular basis, like the other coasters, it seems like I would have seen it happen by now. During that time they have used the left station on about 3/4 of my visits. Gav and atem122, I hope you have a great day there tomorrow. I'm currently planning to go on 2/28.

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I was thinking of but I never noticed that button before. I only checked the buttons on the list of topics and not within the topic itself. Sorry about that.

Overall I am very happy with the upgrade. The site loads much faster which I really like. I just have one question. Is it possible to have a button on each topic which jumps to the first post since your last visit to the site, rather than the most recent post in the topic?

I've got a question for anyone who knows maintenance or park operations. Over the last 3 years every major coaster in the park, except Tatsu, has been closed for maintenance on at least one of my visits. I am not counting Terminator since it has not been there that whole time. Other than Terminator, Tatsu is the only one which has been open on every visit and they have alternated using both stations. Is Tatsu able to run virtually non-stop, without closing for maintenance, because it has two stations?

The park does offer valet parking in the off-season. They have asked me if I wanted general or valet parking before I gave them my pass during that time of year. When the parking lots aren't very full I usually see buses parked at the front of the second section of the lot, on the other side of the grass area. On crowded days I have seen buses in the valet lot. ^^ I was there on the Sunday of Presidents Day weekend in 2008. Tatsu and Deja Vu had 45 minute lines. Goliath, Batman and Riddler's Revenge were about 20 minutes. Everything else was a walk on. X2 was closed for the remodel or I bet some of the other lines would have been even shorter.

With it's huge popularity, uniqueness and the additional $10M they invested in it only two years ago, I would say it's safe. I have had visits when X2 had a 1.5-2 hour line and every single other coaster was a walk on. I would go into a severe depression if anything ever happened to it. It's my #1 coaster of everything I have rode.

Regarding those Vekoma trains, for the ride experience, I don't see what the point of adding them would be. With less swinging momentum the ride would be even more tame than it already is for an enthusiast. With the open seating it could scare off young riders which may be trying to work their way up from Gold Rusher to the bigger coasters. Although not technically the same, I think those open trains would make Ninja look like "Batman light" to many people. Possibly too extreme for the youngest riders and a lesser version of another coaster the park already has to many other people.

^^ I agree. Viper has been one of my favorites since it opened. I still think it is one of the best they have. I love the hangtime on the corkscrews which is something I have not experienced on any other coaster.

^^^ That's a great point and probably the strongest reason that Ninja should stay. The parks current souvenir guide even lists Ninja under "thrill seekers in training" rather than "moderate" or "maximum" thrills. For my personal preference it is just not as enjoyable as their other coasters since I mostly only enjoy the most extreme thrill rides.

For your sake I hope it opens by then. To get all four credits would be a nice bonus. If I have to wait until April instead of March it won't be such a big deal since I have rode it before and will be back a few more times this year either way.

Generally the only times I have seen Ninja have any kind of line in about the last 5 years is when they run one train on a day when the park is crowded and even then I have not seen it reach passed 15-20 minutes. I think this is probably due to low capacity caused by one trains ops and the lift hill at the end making the line move really slow. In my experience, when they have one train on a day with light crowds or two trains on a crowded day Ninja has been a walk on regularly. When I was there last July and August the park was near capacity judging by the full parking lot and Ninja was still a walk on or a one train wait on both visits. I would miss any SFMM coaster if they removed it, but Ninja is the one I would miss the least. ^ Deja Vu is my 4th favorite coaster at the park after X2, Tatsu and Goliath.

I am hoping it reopens soon too. I have not rode it since June and I am anxious to ride it again. Right now I am planning to go to the park on 3/5 so it is probably a long shot to expect it to be open by then. If it opens later in March I probably will not ride it until my next visit after that which would be on 4/12 at the earliest since I am skipping over Spring Break.

Ideally I would like to keep all of the big coasters. I still like them all, obviously some more than others, but there aren't any which I purposely avoid or do not enjoy. If the park had to remove one coaster to make room for something better Ninja would be my choice. I find it to be the least exciting coaster they have.

I think Viper is very underrated too. It is still one of my favorites and I feel it has aged very well. Even at 20 years old I think it is better than many coasters which are much newer. It is the oldest coaster in the park that I still consider a "must ride" on every visit. It has been a favorite of mine since I rode it on it's opening weekend.

Space Cowboys (2000)