azza29

^^Rode Batman in row 6, still gave a very good ride but just not quite as thrilling as the one I had at SFGAdv. Would have liked to try in different seats but we ran out of time. We used Flash pass for Riddler but in hindsight single rider line would have been better. The station queue was a mess, and people seemed to have a lot of difficulty understanding how to get themselves into the restraints. A lot of people were trying to jump up into the seat rather than pulling it down to their height, not something I've seen happen on any of the other standups I've been on in the last few weeks! Did take advantage of the single rider line for Lex Luthor - no wait!

Just got back from the mountain, seemed reasonably busy with hour-plus waits on most coasters by the afternoon. Got on the first X2 train of the day without too much hassle, my brother isn't a big coaster fan and didn't know about the rotating seats, so he got a decent surprise when we started flipping! Liked this more than I was expecting, rode in the back row and the ride was fairly smooth. We grabbed a gold Flash pass for the rest of the day, useful too since Riddler was posting a 2.5 hour wait at one point. The usefulness of the pass definitely varies from ride to ride, straight onto Ninja but a 25 minute station wait for Scream. For whatever reason Scream and Colossus were only running one train. After seeing SFGAdv run three trains on an empty Bizarro on Tuesday this was annoying. Didn't help that Scream's ride ops spent a lot of time chatting before they would dispatch each train. Tatsu, Riddler, X2, Apocalypse and Goliath are definite winners. Green Lantern was great, our car was very unbalanced so we got a very forceful ride. Batman is good but for some reason it didn't thrill me the same way as it's East coast counterpart did. Ride op on Viper was hyping the 7 'loops' on the ride. Someone needs to teach her the difference between an inversion and a loop. Revolution = ouch. Lapbars AND OTSRs? Don't see that often. Superman is awesome but (I might be biased here) doesn't feel as fast as Dreamworld's Tower of Terror. After visiting 20-odd parks in the last month and a half, one thing I really like about SFMM is that it has some fairly unique coasters - X2, Green Lantern and Superman are great diversions from the usual Intamin/B&M invert/standup/floorless/hyper models that are everywhere. No way Full Throttle is opening in two weeks. Plaza area is still mostly dirt and there's no sign of a station building. Overall I liked SFMM but it's definitely a park that needs some attention to detail in operations and general upkeep. The intertwining coasters around the 'mountain' are really cool, and that area of the park is much more inviting than the concrete mess elsewhere. Will definitely be back at some point, interested to see what else this park will bring in the future.

^I'll take your word for it, I only tried the test seat out front and it was not even close so I didn't bother lining up. I have no trouble fitting on V2 or Possessed but WT was a definite no go for me. I'm not saying the restraints ought to be bigger, just that my experience is that there is a difference.

Shockwave at KD. So bad it's hilarious.

Cheers thanks. I think we might head to X2 during the passholder early entry then grab a Flash pass for the rest. Just two of us so single rider will definitely be an option for Lex Luthor. Are there plenty of single-use lockers around the park? I find those more convenient than stashing my camera in an all-day locker. Also just realised I'll hit coaster #150 at some point tomorrow, is Tatsu a good choice?

Heading to the park for the first time tomorrow - what are crowds like at the moment? Should I plan to buy a Flash pass?

Similar Intamin impulse coasters like Possessed and V2 have two clips for the belt, one further forward on the seat. Wicked Twister just has the one at the back, so I think it's more that than the belt length. Still weird that the clip is on the side rather than between the legs.

Looks like an interesting addition - vertical lift and 3-across seating make it different enough even if the layout is nothing incredible. They've definitely made good use of the limited space though.

^^What bugs me is that it doesn't take any additional effort to shoot a video in 16x9 - just turn the phone sideways. Doesn't cost more, take any more time or need more expertise. I mean, if the park is going to go to the trouble of uploading the video, why not film it properly?

^Have to agree with this. Braved the rain to visit today as it was my only chance (have to fly out tomorrow) and managed to get on everything (when it was open) with relatively short waits. We did Dark Knight and Skull Mountain while it was raining, but if the weather hadn't improved there would have been very little to do. Some weird ops though - Bizarro was running three trains with maybe 4-6 people on each train, but they were still stacking. Superman was the only ride with any real wait, only running the one train so queue was about 20 minutes. That was mostly due to GP not understanding how to get themselves into the restraint... a half hour wait and you didn't have five seconds to look at how other riders were getting in? Boo. But the collection of coasters is just awesome - Batman, Nitro, Bizarro, Kingda Ka, El Toro, Superman and Green Lantern all in the one park? Amazing! Seriously any one of these would headline at a lot of parks. Great to ride Kingda Ka up into the clouds, and El Toro definitely lived up to the hype. (grumpy old man rant starts here) School groups though, oh man, think I'd prefer the summer lines to having to listen to the incredibly noisy drivel some of those kids produce in the queue and on rides. Couldn't even hear the Dark Knight preshow over the yelling, and if Runaway Mine Train wasn't a terrible coaster to begin with it was made worse by the dumb shouting going on behind me. Most obnoxious teens I've encountered on the trip, and I was at SFA last week... (end) Also got a chance to take the Safari tour, no wait at all. Our truck had some clear plastic rain covers on the side so we didn't get too wet (the roofs are not waterproof). Overall I thought the tour was quite good, plenty of diverse animals to see and a decent length. Due to the rain we did not stop at the outpost which I hear is a bonus. Hopefully the guides will warm up to their roles over time, ours was OK but mostly just read the script, nothing hugely memorable. Would love to visit on a sunny day in the future - as it was I thought we'd be lucky to get in even one of the outdoor coasters and we got them all so that was a huge bonus. And the Safari would definitely be better with some good weather.

Great visit today, despite some sketchy weather. Started early with the rollercoaster insider tour - got a look behind the scenes on Verbolten, Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist and Griffon, and ERT on all of them, as well as Apollo's Chariot. Normally it includes a walk around the top of Griffon as well - yesterday's storms meant it wasn't safe to do that but the park made up for it by adding Verbolten to the regular tour. And since we'd already booked the separate Verbolten tour they comped us lunch too! The tour guide was interesting and knowledgable also, highly recommend this for anyone who's interested. Had a very wet ride on Apollo's Chariot around midday, basically spent the whole ride trying to shield my eyes from the stinging rain! Was an interesting way to experience that coaster for the first time anyway. Fortunately the storms didn't stick around so got some dry rides in too - loved it! In fact, I really liked the whole collection of coasters. Loch Ness Monster surprised me - probably the smoothest Arrow I've been on. Made some time to get in some shows as well - Celtic Fyre is easily the best theme park show I've seen outside of a Disney park, the animal shows were quite good and while Oktoberfest wouldn't normally appeal to me it was entertaining enough. Pirates was as cheesy and awful as I'd hoped it would be, but perhaps not quite as bad as Captain EO. Caught a few minutes of Entwined as I was waiting in the lunch queue, too much ABBA for me! Speaking of food, the German sampler plate was delicious (even if the side salad was predominantly lettuce and grated carrot with one solitary cherry tomato). Kind of sad to see people heading for fries and pizza when there are so many better options but whatever. The only ride that stuck out as being average was Europe In The Air. Great concept but the execution isn't great, I wasn't expecting Soarin' Over California but the pacing was a bit rushed and the simulator was kind of jerky. Everything else was great though - I even risked saturation to ride Pompeii - personally I would have put the drop at the start of the ride, and then send everyone through the collapsing oven (who knew stone was so flammable?), but that's just me. How long has quick queue been around? Seems like there are still a few inconsistencies - for Verbolten in particular the ride op wasn't managing the flow of guests into the station, so even though the pass got you ahead of the main queue there was still a 6-7 train wait. That ride could also really use a single rider line - I noticed a lot of trains dispatching with 2 or more empty seats. We also had a pass for Loch Ness Monster from the tour which none of the ops had ever seen before (even though they run these fairly regularly), so that was a bit weird. But apart from that other rides were OK, although perhaps the quick queue entrances could be signed a little better on some. Overall I had a great time, as much as I enjoy coasters I get tired of coaster-only parks so it's always great to mix them in with shows, dark rides and great food. Definitely hope to visit again someday!

Another great trip report. Visiting tomorrow - can't wait!

^Boston was OK - in fact, everywhere I've been in the last five weeks has been fine. Just Washington stands out as having a high proportion of douchebags.

^Yup. Thought we might head in and try to get a few rides in but they are shut. Fortunately I checked the park's FB page before we left. Udvar-Hazy centre made for a decent alternative... not every day you get to see a space shuttle and the Concorde! Didn't help my coaster count much though...

^Mormon is great, even better than I'd expected. World premiere of King Kong is in Melbourne next week, apparently if it works it'll go straight to Broadway. Kong is part puppet, part animatronic (made by the same team who did the Walking With Dinosaurs arena show). They had to gut the theatre to get all of the equipment in so if nothing else at least it will be a spectacle. And better than the 2005 film...

^^Hitchcock was excellent, I missed it in theatres but ended up seeing it on a plane. Saw The Croods yesterday. Standard kiddie fare, kind of disappointing to be honest - the story was all over the shop in the second half, and all of the jokes are in the trailer. If you're like me and don't mind escapist nonsense, Now You See Me is worth a look. Great cast (Woody Harrelson is superb), interesting story and a few definite WTF moments. The ending is a bit ridiculous but still a very fun film.

^Still playing to get the magnifying glass and popsicle skyscraper. But it's more of a 'log in once daily and send everyone on 24 hour tasks' proposition now. I haven't really involved myself more than that since the whacking day update ended.

Most of the coasters are pretty good - even the woodies are reasonably smooth. SooperDooperLooper is probably more boring than rough, and Trail Blazer is an Arrow, so watch out for those corners...

Why are Washington locals such jerks? Serious lack of courtesy in this city - nobody attempts to make room to pass on the footpath or at train stations, nobody holds doors open, everyone I've encountered in a shop or restaurant acts like they're doing you a huge favour by letting you buy stuff from them. I thought Times Square tourists were bad - they've got nothing on residents of DC! (I'm sure there are plenty of pleasant, courteous people in this city. Just haven't found one yet...)

Visited for a few hours this afternoon - the park was not as terrible as I'd heard but still very average. Everything was just running one train so despite small crowds the lines were long on Superman and Joker's Jinx. Chronic line cutting didn't make it any better. Roar was riding very rough, going to have some bruised thighs from that one! Wild One was OK but is definitely kind of rickety at the moment - perhaps at some point it can be repurposed as theming for Apocalypse. Compared to the other B&M standups I thought Apocalypse seemed a bit slow, but the park has done a good job theming it, fire effects always make things better! Batwing was shut, and properly shut too since they had benches blocking the path. Mind Eraser reminded me of Arkham Asylum's days as Lethal Weapon... Not all complaints though - I thought the park has done a good job theming and landscaping certain areas, hopefully they will continue this into the less developed parts in the future. The entrance plaza in particular is very well done. As far as a coaster trip goes Superman was the only real thrill, although I like the Flying Dutchman coasters so if Batwing was open that might have been different. I'm glad to have gone but the park definitely needs something more to round out the ride collection - an El Loco maybe?

Looks like my plan to visit the park tomorrow will be washed out. Option B is a credit run on Sunday, is this still a reasonable idea given Coasting for Kids is happening? I don't mind paying for fast lane as I'll probably only have 3-4 hours at best.

1. Raptor 2. Batman the Ride (SFNE) 3. Flight Deck (CGA)

Wood: Coney Island Cyclone. Even with seats padded to the hilt that thing is nasty. Steel: Coney Island again. Soarin' Eagle. They strap you into an iron maiden and let the ride beat you up. I don't know why there's so much Arrow hate. They are delightful until you hit a corner.

^Thanks. If lines are short in the evening I might take advantage of the preview plan to squeeze in a few rides tonight.

First visit coming up on Tuesday, hopefully it won't be too crowded but which rides should I hit up early to avoid long waits?