austinlee

Before my last visit I had never walked away from X2 in pain either. I even rode it 10 times in one hour on Season Pass Appreciation Day last September. The second raven turn is the roughest part for me most of the time too, although on my last visit the first raven turn was much rougher and actually whipped me forward then slammed me back into the seat which is why I hit my head so hard.. "X" never caused me to be in pain either.

I'm about 200 lbs too and I have noticed a large difference between the inside and outside of X2 also, but never to the extent of what happened on my last visit. Tatsu is my current #2 coaster. It should move into the top spot if X2 beats the heck out of my head again next time I go.

I hit my head very, very hard on the first raven turn and hit it fairly hard again on the second raven turn. I have rode X2 just about every month since the remodel. I have had rides on it ranging from somewhat smooth with no headbanging all the way to fairly rough with headbanging. However, on the other rough rides I have had on it, the headbanging wasn't really painful. It was more of a rattle. This was the first time X2 had inflicted that much pain on me but I am going to give it another chance on my next visit since it had never happened before.

I think Batman is a great ride too. It is a little short but really packs a punch. I have never had many problems re-riding any coaster which is currently at SFMM. I have rode Scream (and everything else) 3-6 times or more without exiting the train many times without having any trouble. Psyclone and Flashback are the only coasters they have ever had which I had to give up riding do to pain. I have no problem with the "parking lot coaster" issue either. I find Scream to be a quality coaster which is basically all I care about. I have never been too concerned about theming. I just want to ride everything as much as possible on each visit. I like Silver Bullet too, although I don't find it as intense or as much fun as Batman. Batman also feels faster than Silver Bullet to me, even though I know it is actually 5 mph slower. Regarding re-rides or riding a coaster at all in this case, I am somewhat concerned about the blow to the head I took on X2 last month. It was very painful and caused me not to ride it again that day even with no line. That was the first time I have taken that hard of a hit on X2, although I have always found it somewhat rough. If it happens again on my next visit I may have to make a decision not to ride it anymore, which would be very depressing because it is my current #1 coaster. After that hit on my last visit my neck was sore for 3 days and my head hurt until the next morning. No ride is worth that but I don't want to "lose" access to my favorite coaster either.

That's cool. Everybody is entitled to their preferences. I like Scream a lot but I know I'm in the minority, possibly by a large margin. Have fun tomorrow and I hope you have one of those "full moon" rides on my #7 ranked coaster.

I understand your point but I'd still rather see the calls be as accurate as possible. I would like them to use a challenge system like in the NFL with maybe two challenges per team, per game.

What about the zero-G roll on Scream? I find that part of the coaster to be forceful and it is one of my favorite single elements on any coaster I have rode. ^^^ Wednesday should be a great day to go since school is back in next week. You will love your Platinum Flash Pass next Saturday. There are two special events that day and Saturdays are packed anyway.

Make sure to come back and tell us if you liked it or not, I'm curious about how this new Platinum Flash Pass is going to affect the park. I would like more information about how the Platinum Flash Pass works too. In my experience, Flash Passes usually cut off more time than what is advertised. I think you will be able to ride everything since you are getting that. atem122, I have never seen lines as long as they were in those pictures, even during Summer Break. This backs up the idea I have been following for many years about never going to SFMM on a Saturday. Q-bots have opened up new possibilities about visiting the park when it is crowded and still having a good visit, but you can still do just as much or more on a less crowded day for much less cost. I think Scream is a great ride. I have never waited more than 15 minutes to ride it and even that has only happened a few times. It has been a walk on in almost every visit including once during Spring Break and during Summer Break in 2008 and 2009. I am always very happy to walk over there and find out that a coaster I really like has no line even when the park is crowded.

^ I am an Angels fan too. That was a very sad day. I watched him pitch that game and turned on ESPN the next morning and found out he had been killed.

^ Yes, it is cramped. Whenever I sit in the inner rows my feet bang into that metal plate. It doesn't hurt but it is something that I think should have been solved while the trains were being designed.

^ A better seating design would be great. Those staggered seats cause a lot of loading problems for people who want to sit right next to each other and also for people who are sitting in the outer rows and have to walk all the way around the train because they can't walk through the inner rows after people have sat there. Unfortunately this talk is all academic anyway. I don't expect any parks to give the GIB's another chance either.

I'm not interested in this show at all but maybe it will shrink a few lines a tiny bit when I visit the park during Summer Break.

That stinks. Their website said it would reopen on 4/3 and I just checked it a second ago and now it says it will reopen in late April. I'm going in a couple weeks and I hope Ninja is open by then. I did ride it in December though so it won't be that big of a deal to me if it isn't.

You're welcome, glad to help. Sorry for blowing up your plan for 4/18. Mothers Day is probably a safe bet. I've done that a few times and every time it was nearly as empty as a school day. ^^^^ I have been going to SFMM on a regular basis for the better part of three decades including once every 3-4 weeks since mid-2007. I always try to ride as many coasters as I can on every visit and have not got tired or bored of it yet. I just love the place.

Sundays are almost always less crowded than Saturdays, but at this time of year most weekends will probably be somewhat crowded. Also, consider other factors like special events. The weekend of 4/17-4/18 has a school Drill Team event both days so I wouldn't go that weekend. Every Saturday from 4/24-5/15 is "Music in the Parks" so I would avoid that too. There are also special events on 5/2 and 5/16. Not sure if you want to wait another month, but if you have to go on the weekend I would go on 5/9 since it is Mother's Day. I've been there on Mother's Day before and crowds have been very light every time I've done it. If you are going in April I would go on 4/25. I would not recommend this Sunday 4/11. In my experience the very last day of Spring Break, which is this Sunday, is usually crowded.

I think Goliath has a better first drop but I agree with you about the 3 airtime hills on Desperado. In my opinion Desperado used to be a great coaster, but now the pain and roughness ruins the experience for me.

I agree with this completely too. I would keep Goliath how it is. It is a perfectly smooth coaster, with height, speed, airtime and positive G's. Making changes to it would be a very bad idea in my opinion.

^^ I liked Desperado much more when it was newer and a lot smoother than it is now. I rode it for the first time in Dec, 1994. It was about 30 degrees at the time and the wind chill on the coaster made it feel like my face was going to freeze. I rode it some more times, each separated by a few years since then and it seems to get more and more rough each time. I rode it most recently in July, 2008 and it had finally got to the point of being so rough that it was painful to ride and I actually hurt my back a little bit on it. Goliath beats the heck out of Desperado now. If Desperado was smooth I would rank it much higher than I have.

I like SFMM Goliath for all the same reasons you do and am also curious about how high I would rank it if I got to try other hypers for the same reasons you are. I have it ranked as the #4 coaster of the 55 I have rode. It has a lot of great qualities in my opinion. Everything you mentioned and also great intensity and it is perfectly smooth. Probably the smoothest coaster I have ever been on.

^^ I would like to go to all SF parks too. I did a little research on RCDB right after my post and I think if I had to pick one park to visit for the first time, SFGAdv would be my first choice too. I would like to compare Nitro/Goliath to "our" Goliath too. I think ours is awesome and I would like to see if the other ones really are better. I would also like to compare TTD/Kingda Ka to Xcelerator for myself. I have a friend who has been on all three and says that Xcelerator is better because the launch is more forceful and it is a more complete ride as opposed to just going up and over the tophat and that's it. Unfortunately, this all a pipe dream in the foreseeable future. As far as a fairly realistic option, I am hoping to make it up to SFDK/CGA eventually. I have never been to SFDK and my only trip to CGA was on vacation with my parents in 1991. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to go to Bay Area Bash next month.

Favorite steel: X2 Favorite wood: Terminator Salvation: The Ride

My top three coasters at SFMM, which are also my top three overall are X2, Tatsu and Deja Vu. I have Goliath at #4 so it definitely makes sense to me that many people would have it in their top three. Off the top of my head these are the ones that come to mind. I basically only care about coasters so this list will reflect that. This is not in any order. SFGAdv SFOT SFGAm Kings Dominion Kings Island Canada's Wonderland

Thanks for the info. I am going to the park this month. I would like to have some hope that it will be open on my next visit.

^ Yes, I am very happy to live close enough to SFMM to be able to go there regularly. That being said, if I ever have the opportunity to travel to a park I have never been to before, CP would be one of my top choices. I just wish I lived 11 miles from SFMM and 65 miles from KBF instead of vice versa. Then I could go to SFMM even more.

I have seen the line for Deja Vu be just as long as X2 on busy days too. Deja Vu is one of my favorite coasters at #3 out of 55 coasters ridden, behind only X2 and Tatsu so as long as it stays I will be happy that I am able to keep riding it, regardless of the reason the higher ups want it. It does have terrible capacity and a very slow line but I would still be very disappointed if it was ever removed because it is a great ride in my opinion. I just try to ride it early on crowded days or use Flash Passes on it if necessary. I do wish it still had a single rider line though. I used to use that often on crowded days.