bert425

Hakugai was great, as was Arashi, and loved Freefall. the new shooting dark ride they got was fantastic too (well worth the 500 yen upcharge). . "Farm De Bang Bang!" basically Toy Story Mania themed to a barnyard jamboree - the "guns" are giant carrots! the star of the place is Hakugai tho.. the coaster is stunningly awesome. (if I had to pick a negative about the coaster line up? Ultra Twister was pretty rough, 1 and done for me, and I used to love that ride at Astroworld).

echoing what others have said, and saying: Great Report. the wind policy does seem to have loosened up a bit (tho it still often shuts down Pandemonium, as well as Poltergiest). . but most other coasters, if they DO go down for wind, come right back up within 5 minutes, so no reason to leave the line. I think IR has been running regardless of wind (as has SkyScreamer). . and if I had to bet? it would be due to the terrible capacity both of them have (load time for SkyScreamer - the slowest loading ride in the park & 1 train ops for IR, which have really affected the wait times). glad you loved the park tho, and hope you come back soon!

^ ETA. . . Robb mentioned it's something they give to kids when they are finally tall enough/brave enough to go on their 1st ride, and he thought it was hysterical that they handed them to me, William, and Jon (I think that's who I was with when we got em). but I love it

At Tokyo DisneySea

Sticker. From splash mountain She saw my 1st time visit and asked if my 1st ride And gave sticker

No shame

^ Aw Bill. Wish I had known. I saw that several times over the past few days but didn’t pick it up (Was keeping an eye out for the popcorn carts. But they don’t have them anymore) I did pick this up for myself, but was the only candy container I purchased (it was a hell of a scavenger hunt to find In the park. Only one place had it and it WASNT either of the places listed on the Halloween treats insert) But as a massive Haunted Mansion fan? Was in heaven when finally got my hands on it (and yes, the ghost glows)

Look online now and see if they are still running season pass special for 2020 that included update to Gold (free parking at all parks). Usually they run thru 10/31 this deal for the Texas parks. Both will be year round open in 2020 so would get you admission to all SF parks now thru Dec 2020 If yes? Grab one Only slightly more than single day + parking anyway. So very worth it

It’s brilliant. And my local queen, Ousie (Louisiana Purchase - you’ve probably seen me post pictures of her from the Die Felicia horror drag she does every two weeks)

Hakugei is insane. Like the best elements of all prior RMCs put into one perfect coaster The outward banked wave turn just after the drop was my favorite element. Followed closely by the stall And this sucker is GORGEOUS at night. In particular the interior structure Got 8 rides on it today and could have done a few more The thing flies once warmed up (and it ran pretty fast in the morning anyways) If you get a chance to go? Note that it runs in the rain. And was extra special nuts. The ride today with TPR in the pouring rain is top two of the best coaster rides I’ve ever gotten Highly recommended

Rainbow Festa. Osaka Japan 10/13

Happened to be in Osaka while Pride (ie: Rainbow Celebration) was going on. So of course stopped in Not huge but a fun event with a big family/kids turnout Some of the entertainment was “the rapping grannies”. They were great and had a big line when signing autographs after. LOL

Post season. So parks not open! Otherwise I’d have gone in prior years It’s only open Sat/Sun. And Mon because it’s Labor Day So you’ll have to do what I did and blow off Monday at con But so worth it

^ & ^^ thanks guys! sorry it's been more rushed than usual, but I leave for Vacation in ~14 hours, and wanted to get this report done before I go.

the yellow looked like the "old" paint. It'd be fantastic looking if they end up keeping it two color!

I actually love the mix of Orange and Yellow.. . too bad they aren't gonna leave it that way. the orange looks great, but the "fire" effect you get from both colors is really pretty

whoops. . forgot to add the onride photos I got (didn't get to pick up the "photog" pics, as the taxi driver was waiting for me. . so couldn't stand in that line). Mindbender front row (once I knew camera was there) Mindbender back row. . no idea the camera was there. the lady in front of me looks like she was posing, but her friends (in the row in front of her) said she didn't and that's just how she rides rollercoasters. . .LOL

Day 6, Monday. Blowing off con to go to SFOG Monday's at Dragon*con for my friends and I has become a "recovery" day. . we don't really go to panels, but typically just wander the Dealer's room. or visit friends. and we always do a leisurely "fancy" dinner with any friends whom are still around (or are locals) on Monday night. So this year I was determined that I wanted to go to SFOG on Monday, even tho I was expecting it to be packed as it was Labor Day Holiday. I had made plans to go with Lisa and Kayli, tho Lisa had warned me the prior evening that she wasn't sure she'd be up for it. Even tho I went to bed insanely late, I was up pretty early (hungover and puffy. . but up), and I checked with Lisa and she confirmed that they were gonna bail - and wanted to make sure I wasn't mad about it. Travis and Larry were going to a Baseball game and the other folks I had asked to go all begged off as being too hungover (I was too!! but I was determined to ride things I missed on my one prior visit to the park: Joker's Funhouse Coaster, the Train, and Acrophobia). So I wandered to the Hyatt and used one of my contacts at the bell stand to see if they could get a Taxi to match the Uber or Lyft rate that we had looked up (I don't have the apps on my phone, and can't download any without my spouse's permission. . long story, and not worth relaying. . LOL). anyways, it turned out that the cabs were starving for any business, and my bell stand contact not only found a driver that would take me with a flat rate - for the same cost as Uber, but also would give me his card to give me a ride back later as I had dinner plans with my friends that evening. Turned out I was his first ride since 6am, and I thin it was ~9:30 at that point. . So for $30 (including tip), we left from Hyatt and ~20 minutes later, he was dropping me off at the front gate of SFOG - and getting yelled out for letting me out in a "no dropping" zone. I'm here. not feeling great, but here! wOOt wOOt um. . so is everyone else. s'ok, I knew it would be crowded, and had planned to likely pick up Flash Pass. Standing in the line to get in tho, I had plenty of time to watch Twisted Cyclone and Goliath cycling. . so it was a nice distraction. and before I knew it, I was in the park. hmmm. . didn't seem all that crowded here? Everyone was going left for some reason, towards Scorcher and the Log Flume (which ended up having long lines all day, so I skipped both), but going right? was kinda dead. I peeked into Flash Pass, wen walking by. And saw they were charging something like $139 for it that day, so walked out and instead figured I'd take a ride on Twisted Cyclone standby, and see how it goes. the downstairs queue area was only about a 3rd full, and the employee at the entrance told me that meant it was about a 20 minute wait (which proved to be only about 5 minutes longer than it was). so I got in line Pics from the queue line. They were running 2 trains, tho stacking. which meant the line wasn't consistently moving. .but it WAS moving, which was fine with me. and you can get some fantastic pics of the coaster form the stairs going up into the station. Already pretty far up in the line, after only a couple of minutes in. the line looks longer than it is, because the queue lines are so wide. . it really wasn't much of a wait at all. Especially when I got to the top of the stairs and realized there's a single rider line in the station, that's before the front car. I wasn't sure it was open, since no one was in it, but the operator told me it was, and they immediately put me in an open seat a couple of rows back. From the time I hit the station at the top of the stairs until my butt sat in a train? about 20 seconds. all in all, it was only ~20 minutes in line. Fantastic ride too. short, but wonderfully intense, and that wave turn. whee! Acrophobia was cycling, and since that was my main objective? I headed just up that way, planning to go back to get the Flash Pass if I needed it. I had wanted to ride this for years, and had been hugely disappointed it was down on my prior visit. but it was running today, and it almost did live up to the hype I had built up in my head for it. if I hadn't ridden Falcon's Fury, I would have absolutely raved about it. . instead, I just really liked it (the tilt wasn't as extreme as I had been expecting). . but it was really good. and it was almost walk on, since it's a people eater. Really, I think maybe I waited 5 minutes for it? some nice pics of TC and that amazing wave turn from the Acrophobia line, but in this case I was trying to get a picture of the train as it was pulling around. Train! toot toot! wheeeeeeee It was so good, that I rode it twice in a row. but I really needed to pee, so headed to the bathrooms across the way - which turned out to be at the Train Station. and the train was still there and hadn't pulled out yet. so yep. . instead of peeing? I rode the train! hadn't even been in the park an hour yet, and already knocked out two of the 3 things I had wanted to come to SFOG for (and Acrophobia twice!). I was so thrilled to get on the train, and it seemed to be the 1st run of the day as all the seats were still wet from being hosed off before it went into service. as I told the people behind me: "It's magic water, it disappears when you sit down on it" I had been so disappointed I missed the train last time here (and it had been running a funky Engine & 2 passenger car combo too). .so was excited to take a spin around the park. NOTED! This park is absolutely lovely in places (more towards the front end, and by Carousel Hill). This is the Dahlonga (sp?) Mine train. I had ridden it last year, in a wheel seat, I think. .and hadn't cared for it. . but since it seemed to have no line I would give it another try today. Like the one at SFOT, it's mostly "Lift Hill: the Ride". .but it's in a nice setting. even if the old Powersurge is still sitting there next door rotting. looked exactly the same as it had a year ago. . tho maybe a little more rusty Superman, with a train actually on it as we passed.. yay. See? sometimes my coaster pics Do have a train in them. Not this time with Blue Hawk tho. (and didn't get a pic of GASM, as the view from the train just wasn't good enough) Carousel hill. As I said, the park is really lovely in places. the "Screampunk" area entrance, and the Pandemonium sign. the SFOG version of Thunder River is really nicely set too. . tho didn't ride it this time. when we rode it last year, we made the mistake of getting loaded in a raft with a pretty blonde wearing a white t-shirt. Yeah, the teenage boys working the water cannons made that ride the wettest I've ever gotten on a Raft Ride. So think I was having flashbacks, and just avoided it today. Daredevil Dive from the train. another one I hadn't really cared for on my one prior ride. . but it's very photogenic. Mindbender's Loop thru the trees. and the other loop! Coming around the other side of DareDevil Dive. the train ride is actually fairly long, I was impressed with the cycle. as I mentioned earlier. . everyone in the park apparently had gone left at the entrance. Scorcher's line was out to the sign! the new paint looks great, even tho you can't really see it in this pic - there's some of the blood red Scorcher track in here tho (that's Goliath with the yellow track) I got off the train, and headed back in line for Acrophobia and got a 3rd ride on it. as noted, I really liked this ride and this time got pics of Twisted Cyclone with the train on the drop. after my ride on Acrophobia, I went back down to Twisted Cyclone, and this time waited 10 minutes to get up to the station, and once again was seated almost immediately from the Single Rider Line once I got to the station. .this time towards the back of the train. yeah, I had pretty much decided to blow off Flash Pass.. the park simply wasn't that crowded, and I was having a great time already. so I went towards Joker's Funhouse Coaster, stopping along the way to ride the Mine Train again. with maybe a 5 minute line. this time making sure I wasn't in a wheel seat, and I enjoyed it much more. Especially since I knew to prepare for that big jolt coming out of the tunnel at the very end. and here was #3 on my list of what I wanted to hit today. it had a bit of a longer line than I had seen thus far, but the queue was by no means "full" it's a Rollerskater, but it looked like it had a custom design (and a fun one at that). and I loved the theming of the queue and the coaster itself. look at those happy people! Acrophobia doing it's thing from across the park. I mentioned the trains. . I really loved the design work put into these. what fun. and as noted, a unique layout that goes over and around the buildings. .including thru the bottom area of one. Wheee! you can kinda see here how dead this part of the park was. I had tried a few times by this point to get a drink, as I knew I was dehydrated (not only from the sun, but from all the drinking), but both restaurants I had tried to stop in for a cup of water told me they "don't do that here", I saw no water fountains anywhere, and the stand I had tried to go to across from Monster Mansion that ONLY sold Ice Cream and water, had a couple walk up to the empty booth (as I was walking up) and 5 minutes later were still discussing with the operator what flavors they should get..so I blew it off, and instead went across the walk way into the short line for: Monster Mansion! Yay. . I love this ride. .it's so WTF, and so entertaining. not quite a walk on, but not much of a wait. ooo. .spooky Monster wooden cut-outs! . . Picnic today??? Oh no, wonder if I can attend? . YAY!!! Smootchy bootches.. . now FREE all the animatronics were in great working order too. Even the "flasher" Monster-Owl. . tho I just missed him being open in his full glory the mist projection in the swamp was working great too. we are saved! yay. . . it's a Monster Picnic Party. I still hadn't gotten a drink yet (stopped at Macho Nacho, and again failed to get water). . but saw Goliath was pumping out trains. .so headed over there and found a very short line - only down the stairs to the station! so yeah, it was only about a 10 minute line. and the moment I got to the station, I noticed that Goliath ALSO has a single rider line at the front of the station, so went and got into it. and almost immediately? a group of 3 with Flash Pass came up the exit, and (much to the annoyance of the folks in the queue for front row), they Beelined for that row. and the Attendant put me in the open 4th seat. So I basically got a front row ride on Goliath the moment I hit the station. wOOt wOOt I also finally stopped in Goliath Gifts, while getting the pic from the ride, and picked up a PowerAde and a water (2 for $10, which is something my home park, SFFT, stopped offering (they are 2 for $13 *but* they give free cups of water, so no one buys the bottles)). I chugged them, and made my way towards Gotham. but stopped on the way down because I noticed something about DareDevilDive. the queue wasn't even past the 2 rows of back and forth in the station! so even tho I hadn't cared for it on my one prior ride, I got in line, and made sure to wait for front row. theorizing that if I could SEE where I was going? maybe I'd like it better) and yes, I really did like it better. Oh, I still only rode it once, and that was it. .but it wasn't terrible. and I'd ride it again if in the park in the future. then it was time for Gotham. . as I wanted to ride Mindbender! Gotham looked busy. .but those people are all in line for the food/drink stands. the ride lines were mostly short. Like Mindbender..which was almost a walk on! this is the station. I waited 1 train for back row. and was shocked when a camera flashed a picture! when did they put cameras on Mindbender (the answer is "this season"). So after loading the pic to my card, and with awareness there is now a camera, I headed back in line, waited 2 trains for front row, and rode again! and my timing ended up being perfect, as we were coming back into the station we saw the other train had gotten stopped on the lift hill. Stuck. . LOL I stopped to get my picture, and headed to Batman after (tho due to slow photo service, I saw the entire line for Mindbender - maybe only 40 or 50 people - leave the entrance and head directly to Batman. . oh well). Harley was disassembled (the "hoods" from the Tilt a Whirl" cars were there, but not the cars themselves. it was . . . "odd" but I liked they had a sign out advertising the new rides for 2020 in Gotham at the queue entrance, and noted that Harley is coming back. wonder if it's gonna be the next gen version that SFFT has (called Spinsanity there too, tho not Harley themed) see? "odd" the line for Batman was humid and icky, and was among the longer ones I waited in today. . maybe 25 minutes? but I saved a ton of time once I got to the station, as they had trash cans blocking the back two rows. . .but the rows on the train were open? so by waiting in the row for 3rd to the back? 12 people got on each train, since they funneled into all 3 back rows. it's a Batman, so of course I wanted to ride towards the back. just as intense and fun as I remembered it. what a fun ride. the heat (and lack of hydration) were getting to me, so I wanted something "gentle"..and Gotham Crime Wave was the perfect next stop. even if it was running a stupidly short cycle. Still fun, and looks great. Joker had a decent line, and I really didn't want to go upside-down at the moment, so i passed on it this trip. still think this one looks great with that Joker pic in the middle tho. after my ride, I noticed that from the entrance walkway to Crime Wave, you can get some good pics: Selfie with Crime Wave or the other direction, Batman doing the Loop-de-Loop, from down the street of Gotham. it's a nice setting, even tho there's not a lot of shade. after a ride on Crime Wave, I wandered back over to Goliath Gifts, expecting to get more drinks. . but instead saw the line for Goliath was still just on the stairs! so yep, I hopped in line (under 5 minutes) and got a mid-train ride. the pic came out bad, since I was sitting on the end, and I noticed in the middle of the train it had a bit of a rattle - that I hadn't noticed in the front row earlier. Still a wonderful coaster tho. They were building this during my visit a year ago, so I peeked into it. . nothing going on (I've since found out it's a Haunt, and they only use it for FrightFest. .which is suprising they built such a permanent building/queue right there next to Goliath for a once a year thing). . but it looked nice. then I decided to brave what I expected to be the biggest line of the day, and try out Pandemonium. the area looks great even tho a bunch of stuff just seems to be "sitting around". . looks like filler until they eventually put something more into that area.. maybe a restaurant or something? the line wasn't too bad, because it had been down. .but it DID take a long time. This was do to a combination of Line Jumpers. TONS of them. . worse on this ride than anywhere else I had seen in the park -- they were going up the Flash Pass entrance, and then just jumping over the fence into the regular queue, cutting in. No one really said anything, tho one big guy DID call out a group of teens - who immediately got in his face and threatened him. it was uncool, but staff did nothing, so I kept my mouth shut. the ride also went down twice while I was in line. . not because of "Protein Spill", but because *despite* repeated announcements not to pull down on the restraints? people kept doing it, meaning they had to get everyone off the ride back into the holding pen, and cycle it to reset the restraints. that happened TWICE. sheesh. it's pretty photogenic tho. I think I prefer Joker:Carnival of Chaos at SFFT - not that you can really tell that Joker is slightly taller. but it IS noticeably faster in the swing. I think Pandemonium might rotate a bit faster, but I prefer the speed of the swing on Joker. regardless, this is a fun ride, and it did have quite the line. by the time I got off my ride, it was about 5:40, and my driver had told me that he gets off work at 6, but if I called him to give him time to get there, he would stay online for me, as long as I left ~6pm (something I had told him while he was driving me). so I got off, and immediately called him, and he seemed genuinely surprised to hear from me. Guess he didn't expect I'd actually call him back to get me, but I told him I would, and I keep my word. he said he was close, and would be at gate at 6. i was a little disappointed that I hadn't even made it back to GASM or Superman. .but I wasn't about to leave SFOG without a stop at. . . yep Carousels make me smile. .I can't help it. love em, and SFOG has a really, really beautiful one. and it's wonderfully maintained. and it runs a really long cycle too. Like really long (4-5 minutes). .so I was just so. damn. happy. and yep. .still got the bewbs on it. and as I was finishing my ride, I got a call from the driver saying he was out front and where was I? well, I was on Carousel Hill, and so I powerwalked to the front gate, working up a hell of a sweat, but got there ~6:15. turned out he was so close (and told me he gets off work at 6) because his wife works kinda 1/2 way between the Hyatt and SFOG, and he was outside her work waiting for her to get off at 6, when I called him. So he asked if I minded terribly if he stops and picks her up, so he wouldn't have to come back to get her. of course I said no problem! and we had a wonderful chat as he drove me long way thru the Convention area, and had me back at the hotel by 6:40 (and only charged me $20 for the ride, including tip, since I had been so cool with him picking up his wife on the way). with that I headed to the Marriott and up to the room. Larry and Travis were also back from their game (the team they were rooting for lost, but they had a great time, and the pictures of the Stadium were cool.. something I'll have to consider doing next year in Atlanta. we headed down to the now empty lobby (it was close to 7, and Con officially ended at 5. . so really it's the sadness of them cleaning up and starting to put furniture back after they clean the carpets) and we worked out how to credit my card, so Larry could pay me his portion for the room on his card .. . the Marriott bills the whole room on whoever books the room way before Con. . . so they had to credit me 1st before they could charge him. after that, we went up to the room to shower, and start to get ready for dinner, which was at 8pm at SEAR (high end steak house in the Marriott), with about 10 of us.

great report. and yes, that Tremors Gift Shop Tunnel is legit cool!

Well Dorney would occasionally get a new ride, so that's an "upside" I suppose There is no way this happens ooo. a new "loop coaster"!

^ except for Dinosaur! I love that ride (much more than Raiders at Disneyland. . yeah, I said it)

From SFOG on 9/2

[youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

^ its a bonus Mr. Siebert/SFFT also offer sometimes for events. example, I got to do it when participating in Coasting for Kids for raising a good amount of $$