aCoasterStory
-
Posts
390 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by aCoasterStory
-
-
$17.28 for Subway at Cedar Point last summer. I got a 6" sub, chips, and a drink. And I paid it because my stomach wasn't doing so hot and I didn't think I could stomach any of the standard heavy theme park food that was nearby.
-
(As someone who will be at the park Saturday, I really hope they don't do that...I don't want to have to buy a flash pass because they won't run more than 1 train.)
I would be shocked if you ever needed to buy a Flash Pass to accomplish everything at SFA in a single trip, and that goes for any day of the year.
True, but we may still do it to get through everything a few times by 2PM or so and then go do some touristy things in the city.
-
Do they run only one train on Saturdays too? I would hope they'd step up to 2-trains once the lines get beyond 15-20 min.
(As someone who will be at the park Saturday, I really hope they don't do that...I don't want to have to buy a flash pass because they won't run more than 1 train.)
-
I think BGT is an excellent park; one of the best parks around, even. But BGW doesn't quite have that same level of awesomeness about it. Verbolten's a cool ride and all, but it's not a top-10 coaster like i305 just down the road or even as much fun as Cheetah Hunt at BGT. Alpengeist is one of my least favorite inverts (conversely, Montu is right at the top of my list, pending a ride on Banshee). While Loch Ness Monster is one of the best Arrow coasters, it's still an Arrow coaster. Apollo's Chariot blew my mind when I first rode it in spring 2002. But it doesn't have that WOW factor anymore.
You're strictly talking about roller coasters though. I believe that Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a much better complete experience. Plus the landscaping is just gorgeous!
There are several big things that people consider when ranking parks. For the comparison between BGW & BGT, I'm mainly considering the rides and the animal attractions. While I do agree that BGW is much better landscaped, I think BGT has the better ride collection and animal experiences. Unless there's something I've missed out on on my past visits, that is.
-
I wonder how long it'll actually take to ascend the tower. The POV was sped up on the way to the top (look at the cars/coasters), but it looked to be normal speed on the drop.
Crazy ride.
Also, that article was written by high school students, so I don't think it's unreasonable to cut them a bit of slack:
http://www.bradenton.com/2014/04/28/5125365/journalism-next-bio-junior-katie.html
http://www.bradenton.com/2014/04/28/5125367/journalism-next-bio-kelli-mccarthy.html
-
I will say, I'm an overweight guy, but I've never *not* fit on a coaster (or even had to use the "big boy" seats). The closest I've ever come to the walk of shame was on El Toro. The ride ops had to staple me in, and I think that's probably why I didn't really enjoy the ride the way most enthusiasts do.
-
Visited the park this afternoon for a couple of hours before it started storming.
Decided to try riding the Georgia Cyclone in the "magic" seat (front row of last car). I've never had such a good ride on that coaster. It was excellent. Got so much air that at one point my butt was on top of the divider between the seats.
Hit the Georgia Scorcher next in row 7. I'm not bothered by the stand-ups as much as many people on here, and GA Scorcher is my #2 (after Riddler's Revenge @ SFMM). It was running really well.
Headed back to Goliath to check the wait and decided to see if they would let me go up the flash pass entrance as a single rider. The girl working the line said they weren't supposed to, but she let me anyways. I really hope this becomes their standard policy (letting single riders up the FP queue), because otherwise it has no benefit. For Goliath, they were only letting one train's worth of people into each row in the station queue, so there would be absolutely no benefit at all to the SR line for anyone who already had to wait in the main queue.
Skipped DDD because it's not really all that much fun (I still think the lift hill needs to be like 50' taller for the elements as they are sized...there's just no forces to any of it).
Went to Mindbender. It was down, but they were doing test runs. Did a lap in the back row, and then waited 15 or so mins to do another lap in the front. Both are really fun.
Got in line for BTR, and it went down too. It came back up within 15 mins or so, though. It's always interesting to feel all the blood pooling in your feet.
Started to head towards the back of the park, but saw lighting and then thunder and thought better of it and decided to go ahead and leave. Got to the entrance, and they made an announcement about a severe thunderstorm warning. Just made it to the car before it really started coming down.
All-in-all, not a bad 2.5 hours.
-
I think BGT is an excellent park; one of the best parks around, even. But BGW doesn't quite have that same level of awesomeness about it. Verbolten's a cool ride and all, but it's not a top-10 coaster like i305 just down the road or even as much fun as Cheetah Hunt at BGT. Alpengeist is one of my least favorite inverts (conversely, Montu is right at the top of my list, pending a ride on Banshee). While Loch Ness Monster is one of the best Arrow coasters, it's still an Arrow coaster. Apollo's Chariot blew my mind when I first rode it in spring 2002. But it doesn't have that WOW factor anymore.
They need a ride with that WOW factor. And while this proposed ride might have that, the capacity looks to be such a nightmare that I just don't think the end result will be all that great. I suppose if you think of it more like a flat then it might not be all that bad, but the low capacity may still be disappointing.
And I'm not trying to say that BGW is a bad park by any stretch. It's not. It just doesn't stand up too well to direct head-to-head comparisons with its sister park.
-
Planning to be at the park next Thursday. Got any recommendations on which order to hit the rides? I wouldn't expect the park to be too crowded, but it's always good to ask.
-
I want to say that a while back they said how many steps there were, and if you took each step as 8", I want to say the final height came out to 176 feet. That would give an extra 8 feet from the floor at the top of the platform to the top of the tower structure. I'd say we're definitely in the ballpark here. The final official drop height should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 170-180 feet.
-
-
Not sure if this is possible, but the park could bring back the second entrance and make it near the back of the park and it would be close to the older Parking lot. It would help a lot with hurricane harbour and would keep front gate lines down. I don't think anyone wants to walk all the way to the back of the park if they want to go to the waterpark.
That's very true, but they won't do that for one very big reason: $$$$$.
That whole entrance plaza ("The Promenade") was built (and the other entrance closed) for the sole purpose of funneling people past shops for them to spend money as they leave. They aren't going to give people a shortcut to get back to their cars at the end of the day (or go grab lunch/dinner/water from their car) because they want them to spend more money inside the park.
-
I get why the trims are necessary and that they've been like that for a while, but it is so incredibly disappointing to me to be able to feel that much speed getting sucked out of the ride. I know it would be going too fast by the time it got to certain sections to not destroy the track without the trims, but I just wish there was a better way...
-
It wouldn't surprise me if the park doesn't expand it next year but does a large expansion in 2016.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't surprise me much easier. With them valuing White Water at $5 on the season pass, I'd imagine it has a limited life span. I expect a chunk of the new waterpark expansion to be relocated stuff from White Water (like the Tornado, Typhoon Twister, and maybe the Cliffhanger/Run-A-Way-River tower), plus a few new rides.
I'd certainly hope for a new coaster before a waterpark expansion (particularly an RMC or something with a good launch), but my guess is the water park will come first.
I just really hate water parks that are in the back of coaster parks, because I don't want to have to walk all the way from my car to the front entrance (which is already really far at SFoG) and then back to the waterpark area to stuff my towel and stuff in a locker before I can go ride any rides. And then after I'm done at the water park & want to ride more coasters, I have to leave my stuff there again & return at the end of the night before I can leave. Because it's either that or having to walk 2 miles to my car and back to drop off my stuff so I can ride more rides. It's just woefully inefficient. I significantly prefer parks where the water park either A) has a separate entrance altogether (such as Cedar Point or Kings Island) or B) has the waterpark entrance right near the front gate of the theme park (such as Dorney or Darien Lake).
-
Since the only RMC I've ridden is NTaG, I'll put all the other RMC's at the top of my list.
I'm also really looking forward to Banshee after hearing all the rave reviews.
After these, I may need to start looking at Europe and Asia...
-
Planning to be at the park next Friday (5/2). Anybody ever go on a math/science day before? I'm planning to get there a little after lunch time. I figure the kiddos will be mostly over near the flagship rides (Volcano, i305, FoF, etc.), so I thought I'd hit up the woodies first. I would assume they would all be leaving around 2 or 3, which should leave a pretty dead park till closing. Does that sound reasonable? Is there something I'm missing or not taking into consideration? Thanks!
bump for visibility
What is your definition of "after lunch"? The park closes at six so keep that in mind. Hurler will probably still not be open for the season either so that will cut down one coaster to grab so I doubt you will have any issues grabbing all the credits.
Yesterday with three switchbacks full, Volcano suprised me with only a 22 minute wait for the front row.
Probably sometime in the 1-2 range, depending on when we get up and make it on the road. We'll be at Dollywood on Thursday, and we're driving partway Thursday night and the rest Friday morning.
I hadn't heard about Hurler. What's going on with it? Retracking?
We're also likely to be back Saturday night (from dinnertime to closing, I'm thinking), so I won't be too stressed if we miss anything Friday. For me, the only KD credits I lack are Anaconda and the 2 kiddie coasters.
-
This thread makes me want to go back and play the originals all over again...
-
Planning to be at the park next Friday (5/2). Anybody ever go on a math/science day before? I'm planning to get there a little after lunch time. I figure the kiddos will be mostly over near the flagship rides (Volcano, i305, FoF, etc.), so I thought I'd hit up the woodies first. I would assume they would all be leaving around 2 or 3, which should leave a pretty dead park till closing. Does that sound reasonable? Is there something I'm missing or not taking into consideration? Thanks!
bump for visibility
-
Planning to be at the park next Friday (5/2). Anybody ever go on a math/science day before? I'm planning to get there a little after lunch time. I figure the kiddos will be mostly over near the flagship rides (Volcano, i305, FoF, etc.), so I thought I'd hit up the woodies first. I would assume they would all be leaving around 2 or 3, which should leave a pretty dead park till closing. Does that sound reasonable? Is there something I'm missing or not taking into consideration? Thanks!
-
1970s - toss up between Mindbender - SFOG & the Beast - KI
1980s - Phoenix - Knoebels
1990s - Montu - BGT
2000s - Maverick - CP
2010s - toss up between i305 - KD & NTAG - SFOT
-
I got a $4.00 large at SFGadv, but it was first filled with ice over the edge, then about 6 ounces of lemonade.
This is why I almost always ask for "no ice". I'd rather have to throw away the last of it because it's gotten warm than to feel like I paid $4 for a cup of ice. (Although, I could probably ask them to give me a little water cup filled with ice, and that would solve that problem...)
-
I was at the park yesterday for around an hour. I got 7 laps in on Goliath before I decided I didn't want to get pelted in the face by rain anymore. Processed my season pass & headed home.
I did notice that they have single-rider lines now. I didn't go around to all the rides, but I saw them on Goliath & Scorcher. Looks like it just lets you skip the 1-3 train wait inside the station (which isn't really worth it IMHO). I think it would be much better if they let single-riders come up the flash pass entrance and then go straight to the SR line in the station. It wouldn't affect the length of the main queue at all, and would make life better for single-riders. The problem with it as they appear to have implemented it is that if I've already waited an hour for a coaster, I'm going to wait the extra 2 trains to sit where I want, which isn't going to make anything any better.
-
Phone
Spare Battery
Wallet
Keys
Glasses Strap
Hat
Bottle of water
(sometimes a small tube of sunscreen as well)
-
SFOG
-Batman
-Dahlonega Mine Train
-Dare Devil Dive
-Georgia Cyclone
-Georgia Scorcher
-Goliath
-Mind Bender
I would love to know where to find all the single rider lines for these coasters. I don't ever remember seeing any in the park.
This was from Wikipedia, so there's a chance that information is dated.
I've been going to SFOG for 15 years...I don't think there have ever been any.
pic.twitter.com/qA5kre2f8o
So, I stand corrected. Visited the park today & found these. Looks like they're new for 2014. I didn't stay long enough to check all the rides because it was raining, but Goliath and Scorcher had them. They're designed to only let you skip the station queue. It'd be better if they let you go up the flash pass queue and enter the station there instead of having to wait through the normal line until you get to the station. As it is, you're only ever going to really skip ahead a train or two.
It'll be interesting to see 1) how they did it for all the other coasters and 2) whether they adjust it at all as time goes on.
Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
^ & ^^, thanks!
I've been to the park twice before (and ridden the clones of SROS, JJ, ME, Batwing elsewhere), but my buddy hasn't. Personally, I'd be fine hitting SROS, Wild One, and JJ as many times as possible, and then maybe getting one lap in on everything else.
I figure if we beeline for SROS, we'd be able to get a number of rides in on it before the crowds show up, but then we'd probably be screwed for anything else. I would not be bothered in the least if we didn't get to Mind Eraser (or Batwing, for that matter) as I'm not a huge fan of those. What's the best touring plan given all of the above?
I may be leaning towards hitting Wild One first (quite possibly with a re-ride), then RC, Apocalypse, and Roar before heading towards the back of the park. I would expect to be able to hit all four of these within the first 30-45 min or so with normal ride operations.
Then a lap on JJ before heading to SROS and re-riding as many times as possible before the wait gets too long. If the line isn't obnoxious and we're feeling up to it, maybe a lap on Batwing before heading back towards the front of the park, hitting JJ and then Wild One another time or two each, crowd permitting.
Thoughts?
Also, how is Roar running these days? Last time I was at the park it felt like the track was just torn to shreds.
Also,