MrSum1_55

Is it just me, or do the colors and initial looks of the vehicle make it look like part of a frog hopper? EDIT: This has already been said, so I guess I am not crazy.

^Yes. The inside queue building is technically already there; it will go in the old arcade.

^That is another thing I have been trying to figure out on Viper. Where the heck is the SR line? The signs for it literally lead you in circles. Is it up the exit? One of the arrows seems to point away from it, however. I have attempted to find it three times, but have given up. One time, I even gave up and just decided to wait in the 30 minute wait it had. Is there something really obvious that I am missing? That sounds like something I would do.

How many train loads of people are let in the station at a time? Stations like Grizzly's always get on my nerves. You think you are almost there, only to realize you still have a half hour left. This actually seems like a good solution.

So this ride is only going to be operated by females? Fixed .

I would just think of it like how every cabin-based Intamin drop tower works. All the cabins are controlled by one motor, but you can choose not to operate some of them. However, I can see SFMM running two on most days, so I wouldn't worry about them running only one during, say, spring break. However, it will most certainly present capacity issues. In Pitfall's last season, I waited in line for it when it only had 3 cabins running (only 12 riders per load). Despite the excellent staff and quick dispatches, the line still completely crawled. For a large park like SFMM to have a 16 cabin drop tower, I would hope it ascends to the top very quickly.

^Yes. That's why I suggest bolting to it, then returning to get a flashpass. This way, you won't miss anything. And, if you choose to do the add-on anyway, you can have two rides on it. Also, X2 can only be added to Gold or Platinum. If you want to Flashpass Green Lantern, you can add it on to platinum only for $15 per person. However Green Lantern has a single rider line with waits that are usually shorter than 30 minutes. I recomend using this instead of puchasing the add-on. However, X2 has no lines other than regular and Flashpass, so there really isn't much of a choice there. If you are using regular or Gold, reserve a ride while waiting in the single rider lines at GL and Revenge, allowing the most to be made out of your day.

^Without a Flashpass, you could probably get in a lap on all the coasters, even by the crowds of the day you are going. However, Flashpasses do not sell out as quickly as you may think. Even on the most crowded days, you are probably fine if you are in line before noon, possibly even later; it is actually fairly uncommon on most days for the park to run out of Flashpasses before sunset. My strategy with FP days is to arrive at the park early, and RUN to X2. The crowds on the way back to the FP building should give a good idea as to if it is a good FP day. (If Viper has a long line, you should probably get one; usually, this ride has short lines, so the length of Viper's line at 30-1 hour minutes past opening is the best scale)

The commercial may be annoying, but those people need to understand one thing: You can stop CGA from building a new ride, but you can't stop a business from making use of freedom of the press rights. Really, the marketing department is the thing keeping GCA alive now. I wonder what those same people complaining about commercials and new rides would feel if GCA closed. On another topic, wasn't it also mentioned that CGA may be getting a new waterslide? The park should probably have no problem getting a permit for that, as slides only make a fraction of the noise that coasters do, and that area of the park is the farthest you gan get from the residential areas. Two screaming people cannot make nearly as much noise as 28 screaming people...or thousands of screaming fans.

^If you want to take a chance, head to the park early to be one of the first ones at the gates, and, when they open, run like a bat out of hell to X2. This descision can significantly help you get through the day, or significantly hurt you. If you can get on within the first ten minutes, you can probably get on everything else with almost no wait. However, waiting 30 minutes or more can cause a major delay that could result in long wait times on other rides. The best way to order your day, depending on arrival time would be: +30 minutes before opening, go clockwise beginning with X2 Within 30 minutes of opening, go clockwise beginning with Tatsu +30 minutes after opening, go counterclockwise beginning with Goliath. The counterclockwise strategy will send you in the opposite direction from most people, resulting in the longest waits for the rides toward the back of the park, but shorter waits for X2, Tatsu, and Goliath. Still, it is usually best to go clockwise.

Bronchitis. It feels like a common cold, only it lasts for over a month... I haven't had a cough-free day since February.

I have only ridden Wildcat, Roar West, Apocolator, and Lightning Racer. And you will never guess which one I thought had the most airtime: Wildcat. What the hell happened!? When I rode this, I was getting airtime on just about every hill! If it were as smooth as Lightning Racer, I might even rank Wildcat above it. What was going on? I should note that the one ride I had was the only ride I had. It was later in the day, and there was no rain that day. However, it was raining all night the previous night, as well as most of the previous day. I am not sure what was going on here... Has anyone else gotten a ride like this?

Colossus and Scream? Really this isn't going to work. Here is why: Colossus=675 per hour Scream (with SFMM ops) 800 per hour 500 people divided by 1475 people equals about 34 minutes, or 17 minutes for each coaster. Even on crowded days, you can still ride each of these coasters with less than a 17 minute wait. It might be a fun event, though, to have an ERT session with everyone dressed up. EDIT: Major (and quite obvious) math error in this post. However, I think the point still holds. Besides, it is one of those events that is more for the 'fun' than it is for getting in quick rides.

I guess even the Klassiest show on TV isn't Klassy enough for the Klassy cruise!

^This is why SF customer service seems to be getting worse, while CF is much better. If you show up at an SF park about to close with a pre-purchased ticket, the response will probably be "come back any other time in the season" Yeah, if you happened to fly in for the event/day, that probably isn't going to happen. So, really, SF's rain policy may not really be based on rain. It may actually be based on "we already have your money, so we can kick you out now and use rain as our excuse". Before I arived at the about-to-close-Great Adventure, I spoke to a real person who said that they would not close as long as they could still operate at least a few coasters. By the time I arrived, I could see about 5 coasters running (the same five they said would be open), and they announced they would be closing! I know this is a harsh criticism on SFI's part, but I do not really think this is the right way to treat guests. SF can probably get away with this easily due to the fact that most of their visitors are locals, meaning they can come back at any time. I say all of the above assuming attendance numbers do have something to do with closures. If not, then I am wrong.

Now, one thing I do wonder is how hard does it have to rain to determine if a park must close. The first time I went to Great Adventure, I arrived at 1:30, and they refused to let me in, as they were closing at 2pm. All the staff said $60 wasn't worth it for one ride on El Toro. Apparently, we live in the world where a traveler from California who flew across three time zones and drove five hours mainly to ride El Toro can't make his own decisions. In all seriousness, I have probably told this story one too many times, and the park must have had reasons for closing; it's not like they can just say, "we have your money; get out! (well, I guess maybe they can) There must me a "rain limit" on how much they can handle before closing (it was raining pretty hard). I don't know the details on rain closures, but I do think the staff could have handled the situation better. On the opposite side, (again, not that I know the details) maybe SF parks can kick people out as they choose, because they could still run a few rides (El Toro mainly), but decided to close anyway. Really, Six Flags seems like the chain "most likely to close for any reason", but, for the third time, I don't know SF's safety policies.

Most rides with buzzbars, it is possible to slip out if you want to, bu difficult to slip out if you are not trying to. The parent should have been present, as the kid was probably trying to slip out. However, to restate the obvious, in this country, you can sue for stupidity and win. Americans should stop suing the people giving the rules that they were big enough idiots to break, and instead sue God for allowing them to be born with a low IQ. Then again, God would have to file for bankruptcy soon.

Also, rather strangely, SFMM still operates two trains on most rides in the rain. Most parks only run a few rides in the rain, and those that do only run one train. SFGAdv can still run El Toro in the rain, but only runs one train. CP shuts down almost all coasters, and the few that remain open run one train (except Millennium Force). One important not is that, if it rains too hard, or low attendance results from the rain, they may close early. From my understanding, SFGAdv actually does this relatively often. I have even heard that SFMM did this back in 2009, but I am not sure about that. For this reason, it is best not to plan a trip to an SF park on a day with heavy precipitation. However, if you go on a day with light rain, you are probably safe from closure, but the rain may still be enough to scare away some GP. It rained during ERT at WCB 2011, and I believe everything except Superman stayed open.

Yes. Does anyone know the reasoning for this? Was it a reliability issue, or an attempt to make the ride more family-friendly. The only part of the ride that really looks very exciting to me is the loop on the Cylon side. The slow speed looks like it would give some good hand-time. It would be a real bummer if it were a reliability issue, because it does look like it could be an amazing ride, just ruined by the Vekoma reliability curse. Firehawk at KI was running really smooth last summer, and is now my favorite non-Disney Vekoma. However, even their best coaster has to suffer from massive down-time.

^^I have been seeing a bunch of Carnival ads, some of them on TPR videos I believe. Heck, one of them even shows an Arrow coaster that appears to be stuck in an inversion, followed by the usual "everyone deserves a better vacation" slogan. Carnival wants to make themselves appear superior to an amusment park. Well, with worse food, employees, and fewer activites, how are they any better than a Six Flags? What park are they comparing themselves to, Fuji Q?

I will not complain about a looping coaster as long as it is being made by Intamin or Premier. (The two companies currently being rumored, but the latter seems more likely to happen than the former) These companies know how to put plenty of airtime in a looping coaster, as in rides like Maverick, Cheetah Hunt, Sky Rocket, or even California Screamin. If it is not being made by Intamin or Premier, I will probably be disappointed. However, Premier seems most likely now, so I am not too worried about getting another airless inversion machine.

Knott's removing Xcelerator AND Monte What's worse than RCT4 being announced, but, instead, the developers of RCT4 and No Limits 2 decide to cancel the productions to team up to make another Thrillville sequel?

As pretty much everyone has said, ride it first (get to the park early if you are going on a peak day), and head directly for it after opening. Once you have ridden, get in as many rides as possible on I305. On my last visit, Volcano had the longest wait in the park, about a 30 minute wait with 2 trains running, while, a few feet away, I305 had about a 5 minute wait, with 1 train running. Volcano is not only popular, but suffers from low capacity (About 800 per hour at the most). Each train only holds 16 riders, and crews are generally quite slow, managing to stack the trains on most cycles. Still, it is worth a ride for its novelty factor alone; it is the only continuous circuit Intamin inverted coaster in the US. Technically, it has the highest inversion in the world, but it is difficult to notice how night you are with the volcano right under you.

After my first two rides on Green Lantern, I had no idea what people were talking about when they said the ride was boring. I managed to get two flips on both rides, and got to experience one of the drops completely on my back. That was a bit painful, but a lot of fun with some great airtime. Now, my past three rides have been uneventful, with no more than one flip. My most recent ride had absolutly no flips. Really, the GP, generally prefer height, speed, inversions, and floater airtime over ejector airtime and intensity. This is why the 2012 coaster will probably have inversions.

^^^Would you, by chance, remember when that Green Lantern video was filmed? I swear that's me on the far left as the car is going up the lift, and in that entire off-ride segment at the end. You know you are a coaster nerd if you end up in videos filmed by other coaster nerds!