bert425

I've been to this park exactly ONCE - and it was only for 4-5 hours with a group from TPR (and we had option to stay longer, and all voted to leave early. .LOL). But happy to give my 2cents: the Good: Wild One was a quite good woodie. Rajun Cajun is an excellent spinning mouse (one of the better I've ever been on) Voodoo Drop , tho not as tall as many others I've been on, packs a helluva punch. I liked it a lot. Jokers Jinx - best coaster in the park (but I love Poltergeist at SFFT, so of course I feel that way about this Premier Spaghetti Bowl LIM Launch coaster - and no MCBR) Rodeo, Round-up, & Scrambler flats, all ran excellent programs -- not quite to traveling carnival level, but better than standard Six Flags programs. the rest: Superman was pretty boring. . sorry to say, but big long sections of "straight track" and then some big helixes. . one and done. Roar is really rough, try to sit in front car, non-wheel seat and you'll get a good ride. Mind-Eraser is a terrible coaster. I mean, SLCs have the reputation for a reason. . .and it's awful. I'd skip it. Firebird hadn't been converted to floorless yet when I was there, but I chose to skip the stand up version. if I ever were to go back, I'd ride the floorless version. Batwing was down during my visit, but I did get to ride the Vekoma Flyer at Carowinds a day or so later. . . so if a similar ride? I didnt' care for the "laying on your back" aspect, and likely would skip it if offered chance to ride. But your nausea level may vary. I do know the water park got a pretty good thumbs up - tho if I recall, someone in our group cut their foot on the bottom of the lazy river? hope you have fun. . .

^ free parking, does that mean the are upgrading to Gold for free? if yes, GRAB it. . that gives you free parking at all SF parks.

^ those are Hurricanes (they had them both frozen and on the rocks), as well as a whole list of other drinks/beers avail. https://www.neworleans.com/drink/cocktails/hurricane/ Traditional Hurricane Recipe 2 oz. light rum 2 oz. dark rum 2 oz. passion fruit juice 1 oz. orange juice ½ oz. fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon simple syrup 1 tablespoon grenadine Garnish: orange slice and cherry Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a hurricane glass filled with ice. Garnish with a cheery and an orange slice. SFFT is an alcohol inclusive park - you can get all kinds of beer (tap/can), mixed or frozen drinks at several places in the park (and walk with them). . . but since this is last weekend of Mardi Gras, they had all the Mardi Gras drinks avail too. I have a pic of one of the drink menus on my phone. . I'll post it in a bit, once I get them transferred. Edit. . added drink menu. . .this one is from the "full bar" stand. . the beer stands offered the on the Rocks Hurricanes, and the frozen Hurricanes had their own booth.

I would say the answer is "no" I saw a press release last week, referring to "Spring Opening" and mentioning brand new trains. and a quick check just now at SFOG website, doesn't even show Mindbender (or Riddler Mindbender) listed on the Rides list. so. . yeah. . it won't be open till later in the year. ETA: it absolutely could just be shitty Six Flags Website. . as I notice Pandemonium isn't on the rides list either. . that certainly hasn't been removed or closed.

^ oh I slept 12 hours last night. . I be OLD. (nope, not blaming the Hurricanes at all)

I'll have pics up from the visit yesterday in the near future (I met up with Bill & Brit and we had a fantastic day. . light crowds due to overcast/drizzly weather). the only rides that were officially down were Daredevil Dive & Poltergeist (both due to power issues). . but sadly the Bugs Bunny Whitewater rapids were down too (sorry Bill!), and the Gully Washer - which makes sense, since DDD was down for power issue, Gully Washer station is on that same circuit. Batman was supposed to be down, but by mid morning was testing, and ended up running (we didn't ride it tho). Pretty much everything else came up during our day there. . . Pandemonium seemed to be up and down, but we were only on the boardwalk a couple of times to get to Pirates (which went down the first time while we were waiting on it. . . . but it came back up late in the day). reason for update, is to note to @anonymouscactus that we captured a pic of Wonder Woman's "cage" restraint from the tester seat. . so wanted to post for ya (thanks Brit for the picture. it's awesome ) you can see how it comes down over your head and clicks at the crotch. also on Roadrunner Express - looks like they've swapped out the old skool trains, so instead of a flat bench with a lap bar that comes down across both? it's now individual "bucket" type seats, with individual waist restraint. Still very "fluffy friendly" tho. more pics from the day coming later, including some of the Mardi Gras food/atmosphere. (and hopefully onride pics! hysterically the Wonder Woman camera was messed up and so everyone came out blurry. . but it was just flying in the drizzle, so I thought that was appropriate anyways. . but they weren't selling those blurry pics).

my only input is that it's SUPPOSED to feel like it could be dangerous, but I've never felt unsafe on it. and tho they do stop it in cases of high wind (which happens a LOT), even on calmer days, the seats sometimes do that "flip around" thing, just from the spinning motion of the ride (and it's always a bit windy up there). it's a fun ride.

Nice report thus far, and glad you had a good time at BGT, even if you were a bit underwhelmed. as animal (and "show") people, we loved BGT, and it ranks way up there in list of park favorites - we even loved that idiotic ice skating show that's across from the Crocodiles. enjoyable read of your trip/pics - tho I personally wont' go out of my way (ever) to hit a Fun Stop - simply because of the owner's antics/disregard of safety protocols during early months of Covid. Feel the same way about a local chain here called Pinballz, that had the same attitude of the Fun Stop owners (tho for me, Pinballz is worse, as they are indoor, packed to the rafters with pinball machines/games. . . at least the Fun Spots are outdoors). but interesting to see what you thought of your visit.

I actually prefer these versions of "flying coasters" over the Vekoma ones. . riding up the lift hill laying flat on one's back (as you do on Batwing at SFA, or Nighthawk at Carowinds) really makes me nauseous. and sitting on the brake run laying on your back? I really thought I was gonna puke on Nighthawk. but I love the "suspended" face down feel on Manta, Flying Dinosaur, Superman, and even Acrobat (Manta Clone at Nagashima Spaland, that felt way more intense than Manta to me)

The figures have been gone for YEARS at this point. Seriously, this makes me SO happy. . the Park is really doing some fantastic things:

^ absolutely not my experience using the single rider. I've always gotten placed very quickly from that station queue. guess it just depends on the crew working that day.

hmm. .. I honestly can't recall purposely skipping something that I later regretted not riding (not even that stand up coaster they removed from Kings Dominion). tho I do feel sad I only got 1 ride on Steel Vengeance - and absolutely do need to get back to CP at some point in the future so I can ride it again (I had an injury, and tho I'm glad I forced myself to ride at least once, it was pretty excruciating, and can't really tell you anything about the ride itself). But I *did* ride it.

Nagashima Spaland is way, way up there too. not only for Hakugei and Steel Dragon 2000. . . but it's also a "greatest hits" from many North American parks (Manta clone, S&S Freespin, Mine Train). .it has TWO Schwarzkopf looping coasters. . . I loved this park.

Several Coasters have Single Rider queue (most importantly Twisted Cyclone & Goliath). *but*. . they might not be operating them curing Covid (using single riders to fill every seat). if they ARE using them? keep an eye out for them when you get to the station - you have to wait in the main queue along with everyone else, but when you get to the station, check to see if single rider line is open. If it is, hop in it, you'll get on much quicker, tho you won't get to chose what row they put you in to fill an open seat.

^ I thought it factored in, since some coasters don't make the list for not having enough riders. I'm sure AJ will weigh in with the info to set me straight (so to speak )

doesn't the amount of riders voting for it factor in? WAY more people have ridden Phoenix than Coaster (Phoenix is at the top of my Wooden Coaster list). I've been to Vancouver four times.. . and have yet to ride Coaster, as PNE has been closed every freaking time I'm there. so have to factor in the ridership when looking at the rankings.

^ they have one other than the PTC 35 (the one that's being refurbished)? I've never seen a 2nd one listed on any Carousel sites (and yes, I checked before our visit to St. Louis to make sure I didn't miss any. . . even got to ride the one at Grant's Farm and the one at the St. Louis Zoo).

^ yes, it IS a rare ride. the Version at SFOT is a double seater -as is the version that is not yet open as SFNE. - so the one at SFStL is the same as the one at SFOG (single seats). That means TWO parks have this ride in the USA. . so yes, it's a rare ride. you want to whine, so nothing I give you as a fact is going to change that you feel the way you do. In my eyes, it's a great park, and in the eyes of my Spouse, who *isn't* an "Enthusiast" - and doesn't ride roller coasters (the only one he rode there was Pandemonium with me) - it's a great park. We plan a trip back so I can ride Excalibur, as it was down for refurb while we were there. so you have a great park, you just want to complain because you don't get "new" things.

I'm sorry, but I simply do NOT agree. it's the only park in the SF chain with three woodies - all kept in pretty decent condition. Ya'll got Supergirl - a rare ride in the SF chain *AND* they just spent more than 2 years refurbing Excalibur (and have been working on the Carousel) - both of these things are expensive, and would have been WAY cheaper to just pull the rides out and replace with cheaper flats, instead of pouring $$ into problematic rides - and in the case of Excalibur, likely one that doesn't have very high ridership. yes, I get y'all are disappointed the park doesn't get new new new stuff every season. . but c'mon. it's a really good park, with several very good coasters (at least two of the woodies, the Batman clone, and Mr. Freeze are all very good), a fantastic huge Ferris wheel, several unique flats that most other parks dont' have at all (Supergirl, Splash Battle, Justice League, Excalibur). . . several decent family coasters (the mine train, Pandemonium, and arguably Boss), and a great looking, if shitty, coaster in Ninja. so I really just don't get the complaining.

and that one has probably been sitting there since 2008

^ that's because fruitcakes are NASTY, Bill.

try for refund anyways. . the whole city will still be shut down, so can't hurt to ask!

and park just announced they are closed on Saturday (SFOT announced ~2 hours ago). San Antonio *is* still getting snow and freezing rain today (as is Austin, tho sun is out at the moment), but I suspect these closures are likely due to reducing strain on the Texas Power Grid. sucks, as was looking forward to getting out of the house - trapped inside for 6 days. but I understand. This cancelled the big ACE event on Saturday at the park too (obviously). So now two weekends in a row, was supposed to be at Fiesta, Tx, and didn't make it. so *maaaaaaaybe* can manage to meet up with weary travelers in a couple of weeks. Reach out if you wanna, Bill/Brit

^ LOL. . well, I DO live here New Braunfels is only ~40 minutes from Austin (Austin is ~1:10 from San Antonio). . so might be worth your time to swing down here for Baby A's for dinner after Schiltterbahn, before you head back to the hotel in San Antonio. *I* would

oh, and i always recommend the San Antonio Zoo for those that haven't been. . it's a lovely zoo (with free parking) and a nice way to spend a few hours.