BrandonR

Opening Day photos and trip report here. Park was surprisingly busy for a cool opening day, but the weather was absolutely perfect. The Joker still has a ways to completion. They were working on electrical boxes and the track when I took some pics. I tried out Galactic Attack and wasn't impressed. I think there was some sort of bug on our headsets when we rode - I could see everything through the camera until we got to the top of the lift at which point the background just turned black with some aliens floating here and there. Weird. What am I supposed to see? Texas Giant has a sign stating reservations are needed for reduced capacity. I'm guessing they're still rehabbing some trains - can anyone confirm? Entry fountain water was dyed so blue it was comedic.

Seems like the off-season is ever shortening for SFoT. Wonder if they'll ever just go to year-round operation, a la SFMM?

Nope. Still large portions of it stand.

I took some progress pictures today (12/30). Doesn't look like anything significant since the last pics taken. I also planned on going to the park but the line of cars waiting to get into the park was insane. Snaked all the way to I-30, and overflow was getting crowded only 30 minutes into park opening. Nooo thank you. Needless to say we went to the nearby International Bowling Museum and was actually pleasantly surprised. Pretty high-quality exhibits!

No. From that image of the top of Giant, the Batman Stunt Show theater was located off the image to the right of the Oil Derrick. isn't to the right where Superman Tower is? (and before converting to Superman, was Air Race). I don't recall there being a stadium there.. . but I'm getting old, so who knows if my memory is going Music Mill Amphitheater is basically between Shock Wave and Giant and houses concerts: http://guidetosfot.com/parkinfo/entertainment/musicmill/ The Batman Stunt Show was in the Texas Arena which is right next to Oil Derrick: http://guidetosfot.com/parkinfo/entertainment/texasarena/

Why would SFOT add another B&M if it already has Batman? There's nothing wrong with another RMC in my opinion Because RMC rides are a lot more similar to each other than B&M rides. Getting another RMC would be like the parking adding another B&M invert.

Why would they give JRS a RMC makeover when the park already has NTG? Plus it's a weird, skinny, small plot of land that really only another out-and-back would probably fit in.

I've been sitting on a bunch of Titan footage not knowing what to do with it, so I slapped it together in this format. There's some nice shots of Titan at sunset!

The only thing that fits in that long skinny plot of land would be some kind of out and back hypercoaster, and we already have Titan, so...

Rode Justice League last week and noticed several issues with the ride. Lots of special effects either working less than perfect or not at all. For example, it didn't do the blue blast of gas at the beginning, the "smoke screen" was barely visible due to barely any smoke, missing audio, etc. Sad to see it degrade that much in a year. They were running every other train with VR on Shockwave. Didn't really improve the dispatch time though.

Yeah it'd definitely have to be an upcharge. Honestly unless they add at least 4 seats or have an array of these things going, I can't see them turning that much of a profit compared to the cost (those robots aren't cheap). Interesting that they're finally doing something to Casa de las Banderas. Perhaps it could be a real Mexican restaurant again?!

Visited the park today for some pictures of the new rides in action. Tried out Riddler Revenge and verified it's as tall and fun as it looks. Unfortunately it was miserably humid and not good picture weather (at least this morning) but nevertheless, here are the results: The Riddler Revenge Catwoman Whip Lines were pretty long. The park didn't seem that prepared as queue lines were spilling out way past the entrance when I left. Still, lots of people seem very pleased with the rides. Can't wait to see them at night!

It does appear they literally got the entire structure up in a day, just because of how it goes together:

So I went to the park today. I'm certainly glad I didn't intend on riding anything because the crowds were insane. It probably took at least half an hour to get into the parking lot. Streets were backed up all the way to the highway. I got some construction shots of Riddler Revenge both from Oil Derrick and the ground. Here's the view as you drive in: I put the rest of the photos AND photos of the insane crowds here: http://guidetosfot.com/2016/04/perfect-storm-weekend/ I'd never thought the Flash Pass line would need a Flash Pass! Yikes. I pity the poor souls visiting for Wrestlemania or whatever and thinking that's normal.

No problem! Forgot to mention, the ordering form is broken on the website so I ended up emailing Mike Rigsbee to help me order the maps: mikerigsbee7@nc.rr.com (not sure if he's still there or what).

You can buy those old SFoT maps (and a bunch more) here, FYI: http://www.citigraph.com/ I bought all the SFoT ones a while back and was very pleased with the quality. Took me straight back to my childhood staring at those maps!

Nope, it won't fully invert.

I felt like the new entrance procedure was much easier too. Not sure if it's because it was staffed at high amounts or what, but it seemed faster. Maybe waiting in 2 smaller separated lines just feels better than waiting in 1 long one?

I went to the park this morning and got a ride in on Shock Wave. Overall I was impressed. The headset adds something that's hard to put your finger on, but it made every drop and turn seem way more intense than what I was expecting. I highly recommend trying it. Other observations I had as well as photos are here: http://guidetosfot.com/2016/03/spring-break-2016-report/

Surprised they moved Chap's entrance back after all the work to move it to the Coca Cola Cool Zone in the first place. I did not go to the park after hearing how packed it was all weekend. Could you see the progress for the 2 new flat rides or is the area blocked off?

I haven't ridden it since opening. What's going on with SFoT's?

Catwoman's Whip = Return of the Spinnaker!

Excited about Riddler, they've very fun. Almost peaceful. Anyone know if it's a Huss Giant Frisbee or a Mondial Revolution? Rendering looks like a Revolution but then again it's just a rendering. Don't especially care about the other new ride and the re-theme of Crazy Legs. I'm trying to imagine where everything will go. Does this spell the end of Goodtimes Square?

Wow I was just there earlier and must have left before that happened. Hope nothing was damaged too bad, they had just done some work on the saloon a few seasons ago if I recall correctly.

I went to the park a couple Fridays ago and witnessed the most atrocious operations I've ever seen on Giant. There was a VC (vomit cleanup) and the crew made what should have been a painless, 10-minute delay into an awe-inspiring 30+ minute shutdown. They stalled for a good 10 minutes because they didn't have the right cleaning supplies (what happened to pre-shift checklists?) and kept endlessly cycling empty trains without cleaning or seeming to make *any* progress. The teen endlessly talking on the mic just made it more unbearable They sent the first train with a huge pile of the kitty litter absorbent material still all in the train so I'm sure that flew everywhere on the track and got in the wheel assemblies. We ended up leaving when it became apparent the crew didn't know what the hell they were doing and couldn't provide any information on how much longer it should take to cleanup a little bit of puke. I've never been more frustrated and flabbergasted by how they were letting such an inexperienced crew operate the park's main attraction.