PhilNotPhil

They may not be slammed, but I wouldn't count on it being slow by any means. Fort Worth and Dallas are in school, but Arlington and a whole handful of other suburban districts are still out. You win this time, realist! (It was pretty crowded. I didn't bother with any of the signature rides. Oh well.)

I noticed the park is open 10-10 this Friday, which is Good Friday. Is it a school holiday? Any guesses at crowd levels?

I rode it once and hated it. And I can ride Batman Normal 5+ times in a row on a slow day.

It scared the bejesus out of me. Really got me in the ol' reflexive terror, lizard brain part of my head. I was very impressed/slightly ashamed, especially when little kids were rushing by me and begging to go again. I don't think any coaster could even give me pause anymore (maybe TTD/KK) but this overgrown swing set nailed me.

Reeeeealllly. I could have sworn they were arriving faster than seemed possible with two. I stand corrected.

I was very, very pleased by the improvements in ride operations I saw yesterday during my first visit for the year. A decidedly moderate crowd for Spring Break definitely helped, but things were moving fast and smoothly all over the park. We got in by 11:05 and found Giant running all three trains and virtually a walk-on, so jumped right on it before it turned into its usual self, but had no problem riding whatever we wanted with little delay all day--with the exceptions of Vibora (duh, haven't done non-singles in years), Runaway Mountain (its usual self), the Freeze/Batman combo which our kid companion was too short to ride, and SkyScreamer, which kid and adults alike agreed was a no-go. I might get the nerve back next time, but I'm still recovering from my first time on it being at night with winds just slow enough to run the ride.

Yup. Just confirming what I said in the Six Flags Development thread about how Six Flags has spoiled the concept of amusement parks in the public's mind and how new developers have to fight against it. It's all about providing an all-around wholesome and worthwhile experience, not sucker punching guests with hidden costs and making no effort to actually help people have fun. I'm so glad they're modeling themselves after HFEC properties instead of going for the low-hanging fruit. I think you're over-reading. Six Flags has positioned themselves as a place to ride rides and maybe do a few other things. That's the differentiation Galland is trying to make. For what it's worth, SDC and etc are attempting to make inroads in the opposite direction too--I'm one of the people they're after, who wouldn't even consider SDC or Dollywood unless they up the thrill quotient. The Flags circlejerk here is exhausting sometimes.

Every major ride has either bins or curtained cubes you can place it in. But be aware there are more than a few water fountains at SFOT and the concession stands are obligated to give you free water cups. Specific ride situations: Titan and NTAG have curtained cubes on the platform and zipper pockets in the cars for smallest items (phone, wallet, keys). Shock Wave, Batman, Vibora, and Mine Train have just the cubes. Mr. Freeze has a sliding platform with little bins and no one can access your items while riding. Superman and Sky Screamer have bins. Most flats have cubes, if I recall, though not many of them will pitch your items anyway. Runaway Mountain exits at a slightly different spot than it boards, so they won't let you leave items (IIRC).

Parking is a huge gouge at SF parks--$15 (scratch scratch) $20 at SFOT to park in a decrepit, cracked, shadeless lot. It's one of the perks on the "Gold" pass, though, and obviously worth it.

I know the extra money looks to be well-invested, but Cedar Fair as a whole seems to be more expensive than SF (please resist the urge to class-trash the average SF visitor). I don't live in CF country and WOF is the only CF park I've been to, and when I got curious about how much a chain-wide season pass would be, my jaw dropped. Current 2015 sale offers for CF Platinum passes are $180, while the teaser "standard" price for SF Gold 2015 is $115 (on sale at $65-85). And virtually no one will pay that $115 price. Plus CF does not appear to offer a discount for passholders who live at distance from CF parks--this year I got SF Gold passes for a standard price of $75, didn't even have to pounce on it in the offseason for a good sale, because I live more than x miles from any SF park.

What's the "a" in NTaG? New Tex-Ass Giant?

I haven't tried to go to non-summer dates at SFOT since I was a kid, but I don't feel satiated with the number of summer visits I was able to take this year. What are the crowds like for September, Frightfest and Holiday? Any weekends better than others? What isn't open during those times?

You are correct! Tuesdays in the dead of summer are usually quite slow. NTAG and Titan are on the same side of the park. Titan is rarely more than a 5-10 wait unless NTAG is closed. NTAG itself is rarely more than 15. You can look at the NTAG line while you're headed to Titan--if you can see the end of the line in the "holding pen," it's not long at all. Titan almost never backs up into its downstairs queue house on weekdays. I haven't seen JRS as a weekday non-walk-on in years. Usually all the rerides you can stand, especially if they haven't taken the second train off. Shockwave is similar, though slightly more popular because it's easier to find. The JRS entrance is tucked behind Sky Screamer and the kids section. Try not to be sad if you encounter downtime on these oldies--last time I was there, Shockwave got stuck on the lift around 18:00 and was down the rest of the day. Mr. Freeze has been quite easy to repeat lately as well, with more people drawn to its neighbor, backwards Batman. If Freeze is running two trains, which it should be until about 21:00, it should be almost a walk on. Don't be alarmed by people waiting at the line split--the gates only hold 1-2 train loads at a time. If you want to get on La Vibora, use the single rider line at the end of the station house, near the pirate ship exit. Same with Pandemonium, at the bottom of the stairs across from the midway games.

Schwarzkopfs aren't necessarily mindblowing--the best ones are deceptively wild relative to their compact size and height, and well-designed not to give head rattles or body bruises. Mind Bender and its cousin Shockwave at SFOT wouldn't make you think they're all that great just looking at them, but they've left generations of riders saying "Wow, I didn't think that would be so fun!" I bet Olympia is terrific. I was lucky enough to ride Taz's Texas Tornado during the five minutes it was open in Houston and loved it.

There's a reason they had to create New Texas Giant. Those last couple of years were "I dare you" bad.

I didn't have super high expectations for it, but Mamba at Worlds of Fun is almost boring for a hypercoaster. Not even close to Patriot and Prowler, fun-wise.

Does that mean it gets slower after weekends-only start? My ideal trip to SFOT includes waits of 10-15 minutes tops on the major coasters, and it's like that pretty much every weekday in the summer except Bring A Friend etc. I was thinking about hitting SFStL for the first time in years but haven't gotten around to it yet and might wait until next summer if the rest of the season is going to be busy. I would probably arrive late afternoon, stay until close, spend the night, go back next day, drive home afternoon. SFFT is open daily for about 2 extra weeks SFStL isn't, if I recall, and I might just do that instead (I live ~7 hours from both).

(shrug) I went to SFOT about a month before Flashback closed, and my friends enjoyed it about as much as any coaster we went on that day. Multiple re-rides because it was dead-ass slow by then. Boomerangs aren't the best coasters in the world, or even at any given park they're at, but I never found them to be horrible torture machines. I live in some sort of sweet spot where I'm 700 miles away from any SLC--I think Elitch Gardens is the closest one, and I haven't bothered going there or anywhere near 700 miles for a park in years, unfortunately--but I do remember riding Serial Thriller at Astroworld the year before it closed, and not hating it. That was before I knew I was supposed to hate it, maybe. Heck, if they put an SLC in Frontier City here in OKC, it would instantly become the baddest dude on the block.

Hi folks, short-time lurker, first-time poster. SFOT is my "home" park, relative to Oklahoma City. I just got the survey email, and the comments section claims "Your comments WILL be read by the park president and management team." So I took the opportunity to bang out a few sentences about lackadaisical ride operations and such (and joined the little advisory panel thing at the end, we'll see if that goes anywhere). I went last week for the first time since the Batman flip (well, I was there on 7/2, but with a non-pass friend who I didn't want to make wait while I rode the preview) and noticed it was too busy for impatient me, while Freeze was virtually a walk-on all day--a complete reversal from what I'm used to. I usually ride BTR a bunch and skip Freeze, but did bunches of rides on Freeze for the first time in years. Kind of forgot how fun it can be. I assume it's been slow since the BTR change? And I'm not ashamed to admit that SkyScreamer scared the bejeezus out of me, and I don't plan on going up again. I can do any coaster anywhere, but the height, the minimal restraints, and the twisting in the wind made my brain go into "HOLY CRAP DON'T DIE" mode. I'm suitably impressed but nooooo thanks.