TexasParkman

"The ironic thing, personally, is that I think Great America is the best in the chain." You are entitled to your opinions- I disagree. Let me also say I have seen fights at Disney and Universal. Cedar Point has the advantage of being a fair distance from a Major City. Most SF parks are in a suburb of a major city and that can lead to all types of issues. SFGAM is not the best in the chain. It is a fine Park however. Some people just have to play the "Cedar Point" is better game. Fine- Believe what you want. I see all types of people at all types of Parks- I travel much, visit many Parks and have worked at a park for 8 years. People are just People and People generally have "issues".

I believe that most of the dirt piles are in an area that will be an empty pad. The ques could take a week- possibly. SFOT is so far behind on everything new this year. Looks like it has been a rough spring in that regard for a variety of reasons- not necessarily weather. I did see a fair amount of progress last Saturday. Things will sure be nice we they get finished though!

Coasterbill- I will say that last Saturday I went to the park to walk and it was very hot (us Texans call it "warm"). I found plenty of shade and they had many, many "Mister" fans going. It really was not bad. I think the shows crank up this weekend- The AC feels good on a day like they predict for this Saturday. Just remember.. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate...

You pretty much have the correct list and order. I would add Runaway Mountain as it is a slow line and if there is much of a crowd it can be a wait. Titan will be close while you are at NTAG- you might wish to grab it then..otherwise you seem to have a good plan. if you don't visit often i would add ShockWave to the list. ShockWave and Titan both handle long lines fairly well. LaVorba and Pandemonium are the slowest IMHO. Enjoy. It will be HOT.

I was at the park on Saturday- both NTAG and Joker were operating normally. In fact, even Caddo River Barge was operating...

Not Again???? All they need now is Elitches... The Circle is complete.

It is not "fast" or 'spectacular" or anything- but- I really admire the approach to rebuilding this Park. These Owners are building the Park for the long haul. Grow your attractions, grow your customer base, grow your operations and be good and consistent- Then go for the "Splash". All this and not go "gazillions" into debt. Makes perfect sense.

They are doing something we did fairly regularly- letting a large person "test" the package. My Dad was director of maintenance at SFOMA- He was 6'5" and 315 pds. He "tested" many rides in his tenure.

I am not sure they would ever add lights to a machine that was in it's 3rd location- we got it -"hand-me-down" from Astroworld.

My Dad was moved to Mo. from Georgia in 69. We saw the park as dirt, pasture and trees when we arrived. I worked in Maintenance from 73 through 79. I loved the old park. Randal Duell's design was spot on. I don't know what Park it is today. Kind of a Hodge-Podge of slightly themed attractions I suppose. Here are some random memories- enjoy or hate as you prefer: The Parks entry was originally labeled as "Laclede's landing". MY Dad oversaw the construction of the fountain on the Park side of the entrance- it has a statue of a Cherub. The Cherub statue came as God intended. Such public display of male anatomy was not allowed at SF. A custom Fig Leaf with grapes was created to cover his indiscretion...I always chuckled every time I walked by ... I greased or "Lubed" rides- every morning from 73 to 76. I remember them well. After you grease a ride you must "Run-in the grease". I lubed Mo-Mo and about the time I was finished the Ride Forman arrived. I had her run the ride but I wanted to ride so i climbed in and she cranked it up- backwards- then left to go get ice and water with the cooler. She came back in 10 minutes..... never again- i was sick all day.... To lube some rides you had to crawl under- "Rotor" or "Tom's Twister" was NOT the ride you wanted to crawl under... it was called the "VOBAN" King for a reason! Pet-a-Pet had Llamas... Adult Male Llama's can get quite "aggressive" with female guests and Hostesses...... Ghost boats on the Log Flume were no fun..... Every closet and storage shed needed to be locked because if you did not.... let's say that when you have a Park full of 16 to 21 year old Males and Females there is a premium on places to be alone... I helped build the Triceratops in the picture one winter....76 to 79 I worked in Animation. Park "After" parties were fun....free food and rides. Once Guests left all bets were off! good times- good times... I lubed both trains about 3 times a week and got to drive them around a couple of times.... Good memories..

I went Saturday at 11:00 ish. It was raining hard until I parked. It stopped raining and I went though the front gate at warp speed. There was not many in the Park. I walked through 3 sections and saw no Guests. I walk from the parking lot - through the front gate and around the perimeter twice and back to my car- almost 3 miles of entertaining terrain and people watching. The Park looks good. I saw new wood railings, and some construction as previously mentioned. The new construction is not far along and will not be open for awhile. The Host and Hostess Teams were nice. Lots of smiles. I did stop and eat. The Food Service crews were courteous but still in training. I expected that. Otherwise a nice afternoon. Most rides opened within 15 minutes of the end of Phase 1. It would have been a great day to ride. Things are looking up for this Park. I was at SFOG in October. Their JL:BFM was awesome. More scenes than ours and a better queue. I am surprised that someone liked ours better. You never know.

This is in my City. Eric waters and "The Epic" was totally funded by tax dollars (bond funds) and run by Parks and Rec. It is managed by Folks that have worked for some for the the nations largest park chains. it is only 4 miles from SF Hurricane Harbor and a few miles to NRH20 but should do well due to having an indoor area. The building it shares will have a state of the Art workout facilities, concert halls, conference rooms and more. A nice addition to our City.

The Boss is the youngest of the major wood coasters that SF built. Any SF park is only going to get "just so much" money. If they can reasonably fix The Boss and save the money for new attractions down the road- they will. As I see it- they have at least 3 new rides they are in line for: S&S Free Spin, An Endeavor to replace the Fling and probably a Raptor. They could almost get 2 of these for what it would cost to RMC The Boss. I agree it would be an un-believable attraction- I just dont see Corporate doing it. A market the size of St. Louis would probably turn out for new attractions better than a rebuilt one. I hope I am wrong. The Park could really use a shop-stopper. An RMC'd Boss or a Hyper would be just that.

How quickly we forget.... SF spend several millions the last 4 years on RMC's.... SFOT, SFFT, SFNE. SFDK, SFMM, SFMX all received "new" large coasters.. SFGAM recieved a new coaster as well. Let's give some credit where credit is due. The money they spent on RMC's could have purchased new steel coasters- but then they would have had a chain on old , rough woodies in need of repair. As far as SFOT goes... I am happy with JL, Riddler Revenge, Cat Woman whip, Harley Quinn Spin, Bug's Bunny Boomtown, new signage, painted buildings, etc- which we have received the last 3 or 4 years. We have a much nicer Park now. A new steel coaster in the next 3 years would be perfect. IMHO.

They took a piece back down. That missing piece was up yesterday but not unchained yet. maybe they had to make a correction. I do not see how they will be open sooner than Memorial Day. They still have to build a queue, streets, landscaping, etc. That stuff takes lon ger than you would think. They have not advertised it yet much either. I suspect Memorial Day is still the target.

Drove by the park around 10:30- Both circuits appear complete...

Gotta give a shout out to SFOT. The new entrance process was MUCH better yesterday. It was a fairly busy day and getting into the park was a breeze. The park looks good as there is some new paint, etc. More is needed but at least things are headed in the right direction. Every line at the Park was long yesterday. Business looked pretty good- and not many Buses either. Other than some nasty streets- the Park is looking nice.

The Family and I went to the Mountain last Sunday. First time for the kids- My Wife and I went a long time ago. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a decent day, crowds were medium to low. The longest wait times were X2- 30 minutes and Tatsu- 30 minutes. The Park looked much nicer than I expected. No big surprises on the rides. Viper was rough. Apocalypse was fun but rough. Tatsu, Riddler were the favorites. Everybody loved Colossus - it was the consensus best ride in the park. Overall a great day. Just FYI - This was the first time that we attempted to use our Gold Season pass + Dining at another Park. We purchased ours at SFOT. The passes worked well- no issues. Parking, Park Admittance and food were all covered for the day. I was curious how well the system would work and I am happy to report no issues for us.

Chadster was a little premature- We are getting Rain- heavy in some spots. SFOT may flood. I live close to the Park and it has rained heavily. In his defense- the weather people get it wrong a lot in DFW.

The front gate needs TLC. The fence around the front is ratty and rotten. The streets in the park (anywhere but the kids area and the gift shop) are really bad. A great street project and front gate spruce up would be awesome. The front gate area gives a bad first impression. The Men's room at the front gate is horrible. I'd like a new ride- yes- but just taking a year off and fixing these things would be great too. If you haven't been to Hurricane Harbor this year- go take a look at what some paint and TLC can do. That Park looks much better!

"Just came from the park. JLBFM ran like a champ today and the ride ops were doing such a tremendous job of loading and unloading the vehicles that the line never stopped moving. I hope this is indicative of what we can expect from now on." Interesting- I was at the park after 5:30- I hit the single rider line. JL was down when I got in line. It took about 15 minutes for it to get back up- it went down twice more before I got to ride. The ride was great! Everything worked as it should in the attraction.

Madhatter- you have it planned out nicely. I hope you enjoy yourself while you are here. It will be " a little warm" as we say here.You selected 3 fine Barbecue Houses to visit while you are here. Add the "Pecan Lodge" in Dallas and "Coopers" Fort Worth and you will be in Heaven.Those are top 5 for sure. Have a great trip!

Yes. When I first heard that rumor I thought it was a joke but evidently some (like the GM) really likes the idea. What a waste of prime park real estate!!! How about cleaning out the crappy looking bone yard by Titan and putting a corporate venue there. You could even offer a second gate there just for Corporate events. Save the corner for something impressive and sexy... what - that makes too much sense. you know- with that corner lot built out and tearing down the Bumper car building you could really do something nice with the whole Gotham area.... just saying. That being said- I know that Corporate events make the Park a lot of money.

at one time awhile back I had heard something about using the shopping center for a corporate picnic site and eventually using the current corporate picnic area for new attractions... I wonder if that is still being discussed?

SFOMA- 1973 to 1976 Mechanical Department, 1977 to 1979 Animations Department. Too many stories to tell. Here is one= We had "Ghost Boats" on one of the Log Flumes. I guess the logs were drifting at the runout and not breaking the sensor. We had to push the log over to one side as it hit the runout. Needless to say in a half hour we ere drenched. But it was about 90 degrees out so ...... The things I saw on "fire watch" in Injun Joe's cave...... how people could accomplish so much halfway through a four minute ride was incredible. I saw nudity, sex of various kinds...a lot of weed smoking, etc. Pretty amazing.