BoulderDash

Here’s a quick park update, the park is off to a rocky start, but hopefully things improve soon. -Boulder Dash is running great and the train finally feels broken in. It was flying today and was even crazier with some rain. -Phobia, Revolution, Mammoth Falls, and Wave Swinger are down. I doubt the first two will open until July (haven’t opened all year), and the last two should be open soon. -The Lights Out waterslide (lighthouse) is permanently closed. I was hoping the next bit of news would be positive, but I guess not. -Metal detectors were added in the tunnel, things are still a little slow with them. If arriving at opening, I would suggest allowing some extra time to get through. -The game attendants will do anything they can to try to get you to play a game. Even worse than Six Flags. Then people take the basketball they won and accidentally drop it into the station tracks on BD causing an E-stop. Seen that quite a few times already. -In general the park does not feel like they are ready to handle large crowds and it seems like corners are being cut with ride maintenance. Hopefully things improve in the future.

It was running three cars and only half of the station was used. Didn't see any other cars in the transfer area but didn't look too hard.

I visited for the first time last Friday (5/24), park was slightly busy but not too bad. Bobsled was open all day from what I saw and I can't believe I got to ride it. Canyon Blaster was down all day though so I missed that credit for now. Food service was awful, and employees were slow. Overall it was a nice park, but wouldn't go back anytime soon unless we were close by. I thought the boomerang was super smooth and the Comet wasn't too bad. Finally got on a condor too and it was fun.

Cyclone was running completely insane yesterday, my first few rides were good, but the trains were mostly empty. After a few rides it started sprinkling outside, the trains were more filled, and the ride was absolutely hauling. I don't think it has ever been faster in the second half. The back row was absolutely insane and I got ridiculous ejector airtime even on the hill into the brakes. Some of the fastest if not fastest rides Iv'e ever seen. Ride now before it starts acting up in the summer! Superman is running fast and smooth. Lots of insane airtime on the hills. Not sure if it has been discussed here, but the park now allows re-rides if there is nobody in your row. You can also seat hop if the station is empty. I got 15 rides on Cyclone without leaving the station and plenty on Superman as well. So refreshing to not have to walk around every single time.

Both coasters are running very good, better than they have in a while. Superman got a lot of train work including new wheels. It is running very smooth and fast. Cyclone is great as well and super smooth, now is the time to ride before the summer wheels go on. I only rode the orange train but it seemed to be running faster than the blue one. Operations are another story, Cyclone has absolutely horrendous dispatches. I timed a 6:30+ minute dispatch and there were plenty that seemed longer than that. Superman had excellent ops though and the line was super short. Everything else was hit or miss, even Joker had a long line which I have never seen before. I know it is still early in the year but it is embarrassing that a world class RMC has only two employees checking restraints and half the time open the gates after the other train gets back.

Went to the park for the first time on Sunday, definitely more crowded than I thought it would be. Ended up getting Time Saver, I thought that even the unlimited one only came with one LR ride, but after confirming that was incorrect it was a no-brainer. Got multiple front and back rides, totally insane coaster. Lots of airtime and the launch is super fun. The only disappointment was there was pretty much no airtime on the first hill after the launch, but the rest of the ride is ridiculous and had amazing airtime. The wave turn and banked turns were awesome and had lots of airtime as well, especially the wave turn. Awesome coaster and lots of fun. The other coasters were great as well, Mystery Mine was down which was disappointing but expected since I saw reports about it down. Tornado was very smooth and easily the best looping arrow iv'e been on although it is a little short. Wild Eagle was very fun and would probably put it between Thunderbird and Gatekeeper. Has the nicest looking station and atmosphere iv'e ever seen. Fire chaser was great and is a nice coaster for everyone. Thunder Head definitely could have been smoother but the first two re-tracked hills were great. Has a really good layout but was a little rough. Blazing Fury was cool and seemed to be popular. I saw the new coaster testing and wasn't able to get on WPC due to breakdowns and lines. Very nice day at the park but wish it was a little less crowded.

Went to the park for the first time on Opening day and had a great time. Fury was mind-blowing and is definitely my favorite giga coaster. Copperhead was awesome and had great hang-time, airtime, and had some intensity. Very fun ride and a great fit for the park. Got two rides in with FL, both front row. Did see a few breakdowns and they did go down to one train at one point, so we weren't able to get a ton of rides. The normal line was enormous, at least 2-3 hours. Had a great time!

Super disappointing, really wanted to ride it in the future. I went to the park for the first time at the beginning of July and would have loved to ride it. RIP

SFNE has almost no social media presence, I don't think they have ever posted about a closing anywhere besides their website this year. Their calendar does say until 6 today but obviously they should have a banner or something on their site. They pulled the closing early shenanigans two or three weeks ago on me, but we still managed to have a good visit. The weather was fine but attendance was super low. It seems like they will close early if there is low attendance and slightly bad weather.

I'm 99% sure they rotate the trains every year. I believe the blue train was running this whole year and the red train was on the transfer track last weekend. So after HITP blue will come off and red will run next season.

BD was running two trains on 10/20, ops were amazing and were ready to dispatch before the other train was in-sight. Night rides were excellent and very fast. Not sure why Wildcat went down, it has actually been very reliable recently. Totally agree about Wave Swinger, it is awesome and is easily the best one iv'e been on. One of my favorite flats there along with Flyers and T&L. I agree about the Zombie Hospital, it feels like it was rushed and not much thought was put into it. I liked how the ending was before without it, but I guess they wanted to add something afterwards. It is kinda cheap because it doesn't stay up all year and has easily movable walls. Wish there was something they could do to make it look better.

^^^That is interesting, I wish I was there to see it. I am crossing my fingers for next Saturday for two train ops or this will probably be the first season since the ride opened where one train has ran all season. The green train ran fine all day Friday so it is good to go (first time it ran with guests all season). I am guessing the protocol for transferring a train now requires an army of employees to make sure the transfer is successful, unlike past attempts.

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the wreath of flowers in the background has my attention. There are 4 different colored flowers and they are red, yellow, grey, and black. Those are the colors of the track, supports, and trains of Firehawk. That is what my money is on. I went on it last year and I did not find it very enjoyable and I thought Batwing at SFA was much better. Second least favorite coaster there behind Invertigo.

Nothing has changed with Goliath, it is still the same garbage ride it has been since 2014. The train jackhammers in every section that goes fast and the cobra roll bangs your head around. The only somewhat enjoyable sections are the spikes. I rode twice on Sunday and the ride is still trash.

The green train has returned on BD! Hopefully there will be two running for the busy weekends in October. They also replaced some track on the final hill and it is noticeably smoother.

Nice report! Glad you enjoyed Ghost Hunt, it’s one of my favorites. My high score is slightly over 400k ( have to go solo and spam the purple targets) but it’s a lot of fun trying to break high scores. Wildcat is a lot smoother than it was, but it should have been fully re-tracked before given new trains. Lots of odd bouncy spots and shakiness. At least you don’t get a headache like you did on the old ones. And they only run one train because that’s what they do. On BD I find any of the front cars to be ride-able but the front is the smoothest and probably my favorite. I can tolorate 6-1 and I really like the airtime back there. The ride usually runs very fast in October and in the dark it is insane. The green train is supposed to be going on within the next three weeks, so hopefully they will run two for those busy Graveyard weekends in October. They do want to fix up a few spots on the ride before October and I think they are planning to do the rough spot during the off-season.

Wildcat opened late yesterday and I believe was the same today. Down Time opened Tuesday I believe and has been open since minus a breakdown I saw yesterday. I did notice the ride goes much faster at the top than it did before, before it would slow down about 7/8 up the tower, but yesterday it just went full speed up and came to a sudden stop at the top. The only other ride down is Mammoth Falls which is 95% going to be down for the season. BD's green train is also ready to go and they have prepped the crane next to the ride to put it on. Not sure when it is going on, I believe it will be on soon or towards the end of the summer season when they are open weekends only.

Wildcat and Downtime are down and have been for a week or two, Down Time was supposed to open this week but I think some electrical components were damaged on both rides from a storm two weeks ago. I did see Wildcat in the station, then about 1/4 up the lift, then on the brake run over the course of 3 visits so maybe it will open but I doubt it. If you are selecting from three different days, I would pick the day that has cloudy or light rain for a brief period in the forecast. They do tend to close if there is extended amounts of heavy rain and lightning (even if it is supposed to be clear after, happened last Friday), so maybe pick a nice day to be safe but It will be busier. Thursday might be the best because Friday will probably be the busiest of the days and Wednesday is a bring a buddy free day. BD is running well but has a few rough spots including one that is pretty bad about 1/3 into the ride. I would sit in the front row or 6-1. Basically any front rows on the cars are usually better than the back rows. If you go on Friday, you could probably get a night ride around closing time which is highly recommended too. Side note, the flyers are a lot of fun and snappable. Almost every time I go to ride, there are other people snapping them and the ops usually encourage it. Sometimes it is difficult to do, but it is super easy if it is a little windy.

They had 11 rides down this morning due to the storm, only Ghost Hunt, Wildcat, and Downtime (needs a part) we’re down for the whole day. I got two front row rides at the end, can’t believe the people in the gates didn’t go for the front row.

BD is running pretty well but there is one rough spot that has been neglected for a few years. It is the end of the straight away by the rock after the double down and hill. It can be brutal in the back of a car or if you are by yourself in a car. Still no sign of the green train (was supposed to be ready by Memorial Day) Downtime has been down but I think it should open in a few days. Wildcat was pretty meh on my last ride, seems to be 50/50 for me. IMO they should have re-tracked every inch of the track before getting the new trains. There are many parts that are bouncy and rough. Also the flyers are running very well, a few visits ago I was riding a few cars behind someone (I think it was an employee) and they were snapping like crazy, the ride was making some serious noises. Iv'e been able to do it a little too, not as easy as the ones at Knoebels or Kings Dominion, but they seem to be a lot better than they were before.

Probably a good idea to get one, the park is usually pretty busy on Saturdays depending on weather. Also Superman’s blue train is not operational at the moment, so might be a good idea if you want to ride more than 1-2 times. Line is probably going to be very long with one train.

Did they mention a possible manufacturer? Nothing else just that bit of info.

Not sure if this is known yet but a reliable source told me that parts will start showing up at the park prior to the announcement in August for the new coaster.

Blizzard River is still there, Splashwater Falls is the one that got scrapped for Joker. Blizzard River is the name of the one at SFA but the one at SFNE is the raft ride by Wicked Cyclone.

What happened to Kingda Ka? I went to the park yesterday and had two absolutely terrible rides on it. I haven't been on it in a few years but always knew that the very front was the best seat. First ride was front row after a two train wait and it was noticeably rougher than I remembered , it was bad but it wasn't un-rideable. Just for fun I rode again in the 4th row and it was probably the worst coaster experience I have ever experienced. Insanely rough and it vibrated the entire time. My restraint came down way too far at the bottom of the hill and the shoulder harness was digging into my shoulders. It was absolutely dreadful and a disgrace. This ride needs an overhaul big time. Total embarrassment compared to TTD. My brother wanted to go on Green Lantern for some reason but my feet and head were hurting just by looking at it. I walked through the exit and noticed a lot of welding was done to the track ties and I also noticed this messed up looking part of a track piece. No idea if it was like this before but looks pretty messed up to me. Toro was down and Bizarro was stacking big time with three trains, makes no sense to me. The park felt a little run down and rides didn't seem well maintained. Bizarro's chassis and wheels had rust all over it and the wheels looked terrible. I was very impressed with Justice League though, it was very awesome and fun, really hope SFNE gets one in the future.