austinlee

Yay. Hopefully that means it will be open when I visit the park tomorrow. I am not going on 2/7 anymore due to the high chance of rain next weekend.

Last year SFMM closed at 6 the week of Memorial Day and the first week of June then extended their hours the next week. This year with Memorial Day not until 5/31, they close at 6 the first two weeks of June. They have been closing earlier than the rest of the month in early June for as long as I can remember. It just worked out a little differently this year since they close at 6 farther into June than usual due to the holiday being about a week later than it usually is.

I have made the mistake of visiting SFMM during Spring Break twice in my life. Once in 2006 and once in 2003. Both times the lines were unbearable. On the 2003 visit X had a 2 hr line 10 mins after the park opened. When we came back at 4:00 the line was up to 3.5 hrs. These two visits are the only two times I have ever gone to SFMM and did not have fun. On the 2006 visit I was at the park for 10 hours and only got on 9 total rides. This was helped a little since Scream did not have a line and I got 3 walk ons. On both visits part way through the day I wished I would not have gone to the park. You have one huge advantage I did not have on these two visits, Q-Bot. I would highly recommend the Gold.

^^ I'm hoping X2 will be open Super Bowl weekend too. I want to go that Sunday but I am a little concerned about the weather. I heard today that it might rain that weekend.

That's cool. As much as I go there I must have seen you at one time or another. I hope you get to operate Xcelerator again soon. I have not rode it since June and I miss it.

The Galloping Goose was running on 1/25. I have seen it run quite often when I have visited the park on Sundays and weekdays during the off season.

While I am not excited about this coaster in any way, it is nice that younger kids will have another coaster to ride. I have been on the clone at Castle Park and didn't enjoy it. I found it to be equivalent to the Canyon Blaster, very short and not very much fun. I will ride it at least once since it is a new coaster at my favorite park then decide if I ever want to ride it again, which is unlikely.

That's the truth. I was walking up to Terminator one time and heard the people in back of me talking about how they did not know that Psyclone had been rebuilt and rethemed.

^^ Lol. I didn't know he worked there. I just joined the site this month. Calicoasters, now that your previous post has been put into perspective, are you a ride op on the Silver Bullet? I go to KBF regularly. I wonder if I have ever seen or talked to you.

I almost always make the mad dash to X2 for the same reasons. I have got on within 20 mins of the park opening almost every time I have done it. The only exception was one time when it broke down and didn't open until 30 mins after the park opened. Even then I got on 10 mins after it opened since I beat most people to that area. At the time of year you will be there I have found crowds at SFMM to be moderate. You would probably be able to ride all the coasters without a Q-bot, but might not get many re-rides. I would recommend the Regular Bot if you want a decent amount of re-rides. On an early June weekday the Gold Bot is overkill. Most of the lines won't be that bad. Actually I think the Gold Bot is overkill most of the time. Even last July and August I got multiple re-rides on everything with a Regular. When I have been to KBF in June I have always found it to be very crowded. Go on the GhostRider first and go again if the line isn't that bad. Once it gets long it usually stays that way the rest of the day.

^^ Thanks. It was an awesome day. It's pretty hard to go wrong at KBF on a school day, as long as there is not a special event or something like that going on. I have been keeping track of what I do on each visit for years. ^ So you were there yesterday too. That's pretty cool. A ride op on Supreme Scream told me the park was nearly as empty on Sunday as it was yesterday. I usually try to visit on weekdays if I can but I guess right now it doesn't make much difference. You can't beat all those walk ons.

Park hours were 10-6, but I got there at 10:45 and stayed until 5:15. I was not very concerned about getting there at opening, because I usually only stay 5-6 hours when I visit KBF on school days since they are usually deserted. Every ride was a walk on and you were able to re-ride everything by either staying in your seat or just moving to another row or seat and getting back on. There were so few people there that the ride-ops were telling people they could stay on if they wanted to or just switch seats if somebody was waiting for their seat. La Revolucion and Bigfoot Rapids were closed as expected since it is listed on the parks website. I don't enjoy La Revolucion very much and I never ride Bigfoot Rapids so I didn't really care. Here is my day in order: This is also the highest ride total I have ever had at KBF. 1, 2, 3: GhostRider three times. Sat near the middle, then the back then row two. 4, 5, 6, 7: Silver Bullet four times. Sat near the back 3 times then moved to front row. 8, 9, 10: Sierra Sidewinder 3 times. Sat in car 3 twice without exiting then moved to car 2. 11, 12, 13, 14: Montezooma's Revenge four times. Sat near the back twice then moved to row 1 then moved to the middle. 15, 16: Jaguar twice. Sat near the back twice without exiting. 17, 18, 19: Supreme Scream three times without exiting. 20, 21: Boomerang twice. Front row both times without exiting. 22, 23: Pony Express twice. Front row then moved to the middle. I don't really like this one but I will ride just about anything as long as there is no wait. 24, 25, 26: GhostRider three times. Sat near the back twice then moved to the middle. 27, 28, 29: Silver Bullet three times. Front row once then near the back twice. 30, 31, 32: Sierra Sidewinder three times. Front car, back car then car two. 33, 34, 35: Montezooma's Revenge three times. Front row twice then moved to the middle. 36: Jaguar once. Sat near the back. 37, 38: Supreme Scream twice without exiting. 39, 40: Boomerang twice. Sat near the back then moved to front row. 41, 42: Silver Bullet twice. Sat in the middle. 43, 44, 45: Sierra Sidewinder three times. Car three twice then moved to back car. 46, 47: GhostRider twice. Sat near the back. 48: Boomerang once. Sat near the back. 49, 50: Supreme Scream twice without exiting. 51, 52: Silver Bullet twice. Row three then front row. 53, 54: GhostRider twice. Sat near the back. Ride totals. GhostRider: 10 Silver Bullet: 11 Sierra Sidewinder: 9 Montezooma's Revenge: 7 Jaguar: 3 Boomerang: 5 Pony Express: 2 Supreme Scream: 7

I have rode the clone of the Roller Skater at Castle Park. It is nothing to get excited over. I had more fun on the Canyon Blaster. I am not even going to plan a visit near the opening date like I usually do when a new coaster opens at SFMM or KBF. Assuming it opens on Memorial Day weekend like they have done recently, at least I can plan a visit in early May when crowds are lighter, rather than the week of Memorial Day like the last two years. With all the additions they have had lately , I can live without a big new coaster this year.

^^^ Thanks for the info. Five coasters closed is a lot, even if Ninja and Superman aren't that great anymore. The most I have ever seen closed at once is four and I have only seen that happen one time. That was in Feb, 08 when X2 was being remodeled and Scream, Deja Vu and Ninja were also closed that day.

According to the parks website X2 is currently closed. The ride closures on their website are not always accurate though. When I went on 1/10 Goliath was open but the website said it would be closed. Also, when I was there in December Deja Vu was open when the website said it would be closed. If anyone goes today or tomorrow I would be interested in their findings.

I will be there that day. Hopefully for your brothers sake X2 will be open. In 08 and 09 there were no lines on Super Bowl Sunday, so I will go either way but no visit to SFMM is totally complete without riding X2. According to weather.com it is supposed to rain in Valencia next weekend but hopefully the weekend after that will have good weather. 10 day forecast for Valencia, starting today. http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA1182 ^^ Psyclone and Flashback are the only coasters I have ever decided to stop riding due to how much pain I was in after I rode them. They are my two least favorite coasters ever and I am happy both of them are gone.

I was thrilled to find out they would be open Super Bowl Sunday after all too. I was also there on that day last year and had been planning to do it again until they posted their schedule and it said they were closed. Super Bowl Sunday was one of the best days I have ever had there with walk ons on every coaster and less than 20 people in line for most of them. One time on the Riddler's Revenge there were two people in line. The ride op let us re-ride without unlocking the restraints. The only exception was X2 which had a whopping 10 min line. It was the least crowded day I have ever had there, other than school days. When I found out they decided to be open it was a no-brainer to go back to my original plan and go that day.

^^ No, I haven't seen the Tatsu Comedy Hour. The stuff I have seen them do has been fairly mild and just enough to keep people entertained without much crowd interaction. I have never seen the Goliath ride op do anything as drastic as what I saw last time. If that is toned down I am glad I missed it when it was worse. I must have hit Goliath at the ride time of day on all my summer visits.

The ride ops on Scream have clapped and/or waved goodbye to the riders on most of my visits in the last few years. On Terminator, on my last visit, the riders clapped at the ride ops after they let us re-ride without unlocking the restraints since there was no line. I also enjoy how they say Tatsu in the long, drawn out high pitched voice. I find this and the "Hi-Ya's" on the Ninja amusing. I enjoy the act of the ride ops on Tatsu because I find it amusing to watch and it doesn't really require talking as opposed to what the ride op at the controls was doing on Goliath on my last visit. She was on the mic asking people if they were from out of town and if they said they were she would ask for "fun facts" about where they were from. It was a little annoying because the answers from the guests were hard to hear and the fun facts were just nonsense such as one person who said he was from NY. She asked for fun facts about NY and he said "it's cold". The ride op responded that is not a fun fact, just common knowledge, which was slightly amusing. After this had gone on for a while, a girl on the train said to her friend "fun fact, nobody cares." I don't like to complain too much since this is all done in fun, but I wouldn't miss this particular act if it was stopped. For anyone who is interested SFMM has changed their schedule again. Their website now says that they are open 10:30-7:00 on 2/7, Super Bowl Sunday. It used to say they were closed that day. They also posted the same hours for 2/6 about two weeks ago. Now that they will be open on 2/7 I will be going that day. http://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/info/parkinfo.aspx

1. X2: My all time favorite coaster. The only one I am still willing to wait more than 1 hour to ride. 2. Tatsu: Just barely 2nd to X2, but a virtual tie. The pretzel loop is very intense. 3. Goliath: Love the speed, air-time and intensity of the helixes. 4. Deja Vu: I really enjoy being pulled up those towers while in an inverted train. It reminds me of the Boomerang at KBF on steroids. 5. Riddler's Revenge: Gets a few bonus points for the relative uniqueness of being a stand up. I really enjoy the diving loops and the corkscrews. 6. Batman: Still one of the most exciting and intense coasters I have rode, especially on the corkscrews and zero-g roll. A little short but really packs a punch. 7. Scream: Love it for many of the same reasons as Riddler's Revenge and Batman. The zero-g roll and interlocking corkscrews are my favorite parts. 8. Viper: Still a lot of fun and pretty intense at 20 years old. I really enjoy the burst of speed it feels like you get on the turn leading into the 2nd and 3rd loops. It has been a favorite since I rode it on opening weekend and I think it has aged very well. Still one of the best after all these years. 9. Terminator Salvation: Feels 20 mph faster than it is. Great speed and sharp turns, which are even better in the tunnels. Rode it in near total darkness on my last visit since Deja Vu was closed. At times you couldn't even see the track which made it even more intense. 10. Ninja: Very mild by modern standards. I still ride it but only if there is no line. I don't go to the top of the mountain anymore unless Ninja and Superman are both open since neither is a favorite. 11. Revolution: Still enjoy it, partially for nostalgia, since it was the first non-kiddie coaster I ever rode. Not that great by modern standards either. It has been destroyed by OTSR's and excessive braking. 12. Superman: Not that good anymore. Same reasons as Ninja. 13. Colossus: Still enjoy it but not nearly as much as I did years ago. I consider it a family coaster by modern standards. The last turn before the bunnyhops feels like you could get out and run the same speed. 14. Gold Rusher: Still fun and I enjoy the helix at the end the most. I don't really have any complaints about it. It serves it's purpose well. It just isn't as big and bad as most of the other coasters. Everything I have ranked 1-9 I still consider to be a favorite. The gap between each of those positions is very small. I consider everything from 1-9 to be much better than 10-14.

How crowded was it today? I've been there in January many times but never on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and never on Saturday. January is usually a good time to go, but I'm curious about how long the lines were on a Saturday of a holiday weekend, during the slower part of the year.

I heard the rain will start late Sunday night and get much heavier starting Monday. You are probably safe, weather wise, to go on Sunday and get most, if not all of your day in before the rain starts. Based on the estimated rainfall we are supposed to get I would not be surprised if the park is closed on Monday.

I am 33 yrs old. My first coaster was Clown Coaster, now called Percy's Railway, at SFMM. My first non-kiddie coaster was Revolution. Both were in 1983, the year I visited SFMM and KBF with my parents for the first time.

^^^^^ You're not the only one. I have rode GhostRider on a regular basis since it opened, and although very rough, I have not been in pain after riding it. It does bounce you around but I have found the tight fitting, well padded seats have kept me from taking any hits which were actually painful.

The Superman statue has not been replaced. Having grass underneath Scream would look better than the old parking spaces we currently see, but it is not a big deal to me either way. Scream is one of my favorite coasters either way. The color of the ride or theming of the area is secondary to me.