Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

PatrickFHam

Members
  • Posts

    30
  • Joined

Everything posted by PatrickFHam

  1. That is one change from the original animation and I like it a lot. The drop after the second turn-around was easily the best moment on the Georgia Cyclone because of the airtime you would hit there, seems to me RMC took the best moment on the Georgia Cyclone and made it better. Absolutely agree... looks very intentional to preserve that moment from the past. Even if they don’t think and design that way, let’s just pretend that they do, cuz it’s more fun to appreciate it than refute it. Excitement building for sure. This ride, though short and short, looks to pack a real punch. Can’t wait!!
  2. Ooohhh, ok gotcha. I can’t say “all,” but it was definitely more than those two you mentioned. Even Yosemite... one that was interesting to me was the Mr Freeze front row didn’t correspond. Ha! Makes sense that it is a part of set of demands for insurance/law purposes. Yeah, they definitely had to re-arrange a whole car’s worth of people when I un-knowingly locked in the back row by myself. Poor people were as confused as I was. :-/ I sorta see why now. Wonder how long they’ll feel the need to do that.
  3. Mud and parts wrapped up on the ground... :-/ Homepark is SFoG; this is my first trip to SFoT. I’ve always known that, on paper, it is a great park with a lot of different ride types and experiences, but it’s always nice to actually experience it. What a great assortment of rides! I had a great day. Below is not everything I rode, but just a few noteworthy ones. Example: I skipped Batman. Starting with front gate crews... security and admissions were incredible. So nice and welcoming... definitely ready for opening day. (I cannot say that for any crews at SFFT for today, particularly maintenance. It’s like opening weekend sneaked up on em.) SFoT was ready. Mr. Freeze was the surprise winner of the trip for me. I mean, wow. Rode this multiple times, including after sunset. LOVE that thing!! New Texas Giant was exactly what I expected. Solid ride. No crazy review here, other than I loved it. Surprised that anything else wowed me more, cuz this was great. I did have the thought that the last half-lap or NTG made me glad our new RMC’d Cyclone does NOT have a full third lap. I’d rather our Twisted Cyclone end with a punch than “eh” at the end. No hate on NTG... TONS of great moments. Night ride on that was great, too. Joker is my first S&S 4D Freespin. Totally nuts!! I laughed, even howled the whole time. First time being genuinely concerned, even scared, on a ride in a long time. Ha!! Now that I’ve ridden one, I’d be totally fine with getting one of these at SFoG.(I was not originally a fan of that rumor before we found out about Twisted Cyclone. I was wrong; it’d be great.) I’ll tell ya, JL:BFM is better than ours. I hate admitting that, cuz I love ours. Judge Roy Scream was a delight. I love that classic experience, and it seemed really well maintained and tight. Reminded me a lot of CP’s Blue Streak. Shockwave is GREAT!! I knew it would be, since we have it’s “triple-looping” cousin, Mind Bender. (Loose definition of the “dive-loop” as a “loop,” but they can call it whatever they want cuz it’s FORCEful!! xD. No but really, Shockwave’s special-ness is two loops in a row. Love that. La Vibora was wild! Never been on one of those before. Couple of rough, painful bumps, but some fresh butt-padding (on the ride-car OR ME, ha!) would’ve taken care of that. Loved that non-programmed experience. Texas Skyscreamer get UP there, and FAST! Kinda chilly up there, ha! Runaway Mountain... am I weird for loving this ride?! I feel like I’m probably in the minority here, but it’s really fun! Totally different than the rest of the stuff there. I love the unique experience. The visible disco ball made me LOL, I will say. Haha!! Yosemite Sam’s Gold River Adventure was cool to see. Couple of clever little things in there. —- Love the park! I’ll tell ya, though... it has the WEIRDEST layout of any Park I’ve been to, I think. I’d hate to be a kid lost in there, cuz I’m a grown-up who got lost looking at a map a couple times. Haha! (I don’t feel stupid, maybe I am. *shrug*) —- Questions for the SFoT people. 1. What is UP with the “no single riders on the back row” rule?!? I’ve been a coaster and ride nut for a while, and have never heard of that before. 2. What’s goin on at Oil Derrick? Just painting? Saw some white paint at the base...? It is lookin kinda rough, like a Walking dead situation, or like SFoG’s Scorcher. Yikes! Show em some love, SF!!
  4. Iron Rattler just valleyed... on my only day here out of town from Atlanta... *Wario noise when he gets hit with a shell*
  5. Pretty bummed. Only here today. “The trench is full of water. They’re workin on it.” Lady at the Titan entrance. Titan is down. Not sure they’d be motivated to open it this late in the day. More detailed report from a native SFoG guy coming later today.
  6. I am! I'm planing on being there on Saturday, and then driving down to San Antonio Saturday night, and doing Fiesta Texas on Sunday. This week is my first trip to Texas ever, which is crazy. My home park is SFoG, so I'm interested in seeing how these are different and same. I'm traveling alone, so I would love to meet some TPR folks! Side-note... I got in to Arlington on Monday afternoon. I'm an Atlantan, and I'm noticing your weather is as schizophrenic as ours is! Ha! I mean, yikes, for real!
  7. Honesty-time: S:UF's manually locking OTSR gives me pause. :-/ I'm sure it's the second of third redundant safety system, but still. Anybody have an angle on that?
  8. Ok, wow. Hahaha!! That's so interesting! I . . . don't even know what to say to that. Somebody over there in the SFoG offices is ON it! Got to be a joke, since our 'ring of fire' is called "The Joker." Also, I'd really hope they wouldn't put a Gotham-themed ride outside our own Gotham City. Please no, SFoG.
  9. This is super-bratty thing to say, but I wish I could be in charge of that loading platform for a day and fix their whole system. Seriously, giving an extra 10 seconds to let people settle in properly (after putting their drink bottles in the holder), and THEN locking all rows ONCE, without having to reset half the rows individually would do wonders for that ride's capacity. I know that's really a know-it-all's perspective, but I really think that would help.
  10. I have an out-side the park video of this, if you're interested. Ha! I arrived to the park at 20-till closing, and was turned away at the gate at 7:42p. So mad. Instead of riding, I stood between west parking and west ticketing and watched the last hour's worth of cycles. I heard a bunch of cheering, saw some flash-photography, assumed it was the last one, and started the video. Next train was empty, done for the night. Mixed emotions with all that.
  11. The last re-paint was LOUSY, without a doubt. I'm actually up here now just walking around. Overcast, but a really nice evening. No lines.
  12. Before the all-but-official RMC conversion of GC, I was thinking 2018 could have been repainting GS and a floorless conversion, a la Mantis/Rougarou at Cedar Point... an opportunity for marketing a "new" ride, and high exposure up front, too. Granted, I'd guess it's not a cheap conversion, but surely they are aware load/unload on our GS is the worst one of all the stand ups. (That's for real.) The ride is so good! It just needs some attention, just like Ninja/Blue Hawk did. Under-rated, IMO. Fresh paint, two floorless trains, loading station re-do... boom.
  13. Wow. I had forgotten about that. Haven't seen that in a long time. You're right. I riscend my concern for GC now. Hahaha.
  14. Georgia Cyclone is running trim-less today. Wahoo!! Y'all... this ride is still so good. I completely understand the GP angle on this, though. It IS rough, and the trains are not pleasant at all. Question... y'all think they will scrap the entire supports-structures, or leave a lot of it? Reason I ask... I watched it closely today... wow. I know they have to flex some, but I think it flexes a LOT. Thoughts on that?
  15. Oh, and same color paint on the gravel underneath. I just now saw that, too. (sorry for double-post)
  16. Lovely day at the park. So much fresh paint on all kind of stuff, balloons and happy people at front gate, VR-crew working hard on tightening up the load/unload procedure on Drop of Doom (Acrophobia), and then there's this... [photo below]. Great day over here! Drop of Doom is WAY cool, for real. I'm always skeptical of that stuff, but this totally works! It's worth the extra little wait for the VR. Metropolis 2017 - Opening Day
  17. I'm not sure if they'd ever do this, cuz it's probably been this way since day-1... I'd love to see GASM's lines (entrance and exit paths) moved to where it makes sense with its being a part of Lickskillet now. Off-topic, sorta... but the last couple years, I've really enjoyed being able to see GASM from "new angles" in the waterpark. That area feels fresh and happy now. Attendance data, in relation to past years, would be interesting to know. It seems to me that attendance is way up this year, which adds to the long-food-lines problem. That's on top of the inefficiency problem and the meal-plans which seem to be getting traction. I see good things ahead for our park. I love it. Going forward, I'd love to see Splashwater Falls removed and a serious water thrill-ride go in its place. Maybe the same thing, higher PPH, and a steep drop with an actual splash Like the old days. Ha! Not being negative, just dreaming.
  18. I usually agree with you but I frequent the park and the ops have left a lot to be desired for years now. Sometimes at some rides they are good, but usually they are between decent and terrible. It is a mix between the actual employees operating the rides and the reliability of the rides. I can't think of the last time I was satisfied with the operations and the park is overcrowded most weekends, with hour long lines for food that don't have enough staffing and two hour lines for rides that are not running to full capacity. I mean it isn't unbelievable as many Six Flags parks fail in that area, but it is getting to the point that they really should focus on improving in that department and it would have a tremendous impact on customer satisfaction. The only team that really burned my biscuits this season was the Scorcher crew. I was trying to stay positive on that one in my earlier post, about their just not knowing what to do... but it really is worse than that. I wrote the park about that one. That team made the guests in the loading platform just uncomfortable with all their personal issues they were hashing out VERY loudly. Totally would not be happening if I were in "park op" at SFoG.
  19. Yeah. Superman has a lot going on. Been doin its thang for a long time. And SFoG went the expensive route (from what I could tell) and got the shorter trains but dual-loading station. There's more to that, too, than any other ride there. Just needs to be prioritized with that much attention in that part of the park next year.
  20. Yeah, I would say this is one of the best years in a long time for SFoG, as far as overall experience, and I've been there a LOT this season... both to SFWW and SFoG. Overall, it's been solid. It is interesting, though, that there are some specific issues that are worse than they've ever been. Superman's situation is certainly near the top. It's remarkably bad. I have no doubt they will address the condition of the ride's mechanics (both platforms, three trains) and the ride's optics (paint and queue). I noticed this past weekend that Scorcher got a new train "wrap," so I'm certainly hoping a paint job will happen in the off-season. It's atrocious. That ride is just under-rated. One of these two must happen with Scorcher. (1) Train your team to load/unload, cuz they clearly have no idea how to do that. (They're having to re-set the majority of the seats cuz they don't give enough time to let people settle in. Ten extra seconds and a countdown would save an extra minute of consistently stacking trains.) OR (2) "Pull a Mantis/Rougarou" and infuse some life into this really great ride. I'd hate to see the standup trains go, but it may be a good thing for people-moving and marketing. Other than the piece-meal and yearly track work going on at Cyclone, they've let that ride go to total crap. I'm really interested in what the plan is for that one. It used to be such a great ride... intense and insane. The only time it's worth the pain is if they're running it trim-less. MAN, those trims KILL the last 60% of the ride... Barely moving on top of those last few peaks and crawling through the left-bank into the brake-run. It's just a shame. May we please get a RMC-treatment on this? I still say Splashwater Falls needs some attention, though I'm the only one who's mentioned this, to my knowledge. Other than the innocuous fact that it's ugly, there aren't enough boats!! It's hot enough long enough in Atlanta for our water rides to be full-capacity all the time. They should either fix it, or tear it down and save our pennies and get a Mack-daddy of a watercoaster. Other than the very specific (but frankly, out-of-control) issues, the park is really great. We have so many quality rides. What SFoG has been able to do with Monster Plantation (Mansion) and Ninja/Blue-Hawk proves they can preserve and re-treat "good bones." (VR-treatment of an already-low-capacity ride was an attempt... good in theory, BAD in execution.) We have old rides that are every bit as good as they ever were, like Thunder River, Mindbender, GASM, Batman. The park has tons of kids stuff now, and it's arguably more family-focused than it's been since the mid-90's. The water park addition has been awesome! Before we talk about fancy new rides and demands for new coasters (*cough KD), I'd love for the park to spend a couple seasons looking at the details. (1) Where did our live entertainment and shows go? Batman Stunt Show was awesome back in the day! Crystal Pistol had quality there year after year. Where the "Chevy Show" was had some great talent there, too. I'd love to see some more things like Shenani-Guns in Lickskillet. (2) Revive some good old themes. Some of the best theming SF ever did is rotting and unused in the Batman queue. (3) Take the most engaging park employees and set em loose on the park guests, to connect and make people smile. Put your best people on the games and contests. Since passes are so dirt-cheap, they're counting on people making multiple trips, spending money on concessions and games. Make people WANT to come back by making the experience round and complete. It costs a FRACTION of a $20m coaster installation to just do what we have well. Love our park. Gettin better all the time.
  21. Couple shots from today. (attached) Just a cleared lot, nothing too exciting, though I do think it's interesting that there are two different heights for the flattened dirt. Anyways.
  22. Anything new is a blessin'. (Sorry, my 'Baptist' popped out. Lemme get that back in there. Ha!) I've heard the JL rides are awesome, and it will be nice to have another indoor and conditioned attraction. Great spot for it, too, I think. I'll say this, though... the Superman situation is not a good one. One-train operation this summer, and the crew struggled at the beginning of the season getting trains outta there. They've gotten a lot better through the summer, though, I'll say. With as many people as will be in Metropolis Park (?) with the Justice League addition, the Superman situation is going to have to improve. I hate that they spent the money for a dual-loading station and they have barely used it since opening season! Why, SF... why? Seriously, SplashWater Falls needs some attention: (1) more 'boats' and (2) adjust the splash to go OVER the bridge, like the olden days, not off to the sides. Either that, or remove it, and let's get a Mack Watercoaster. Some stupid-tall one with a steep drop. I go to the park often... like embarrassingly often. I spent some time to the other day just chillin' on the water-jet bridge overlooking Thunder River. That ride is just so nice. That ride is 34 years old, y'all! There are some bigger, better (not the same thing) parks than ours, but I LOVE our Atlanta-area park. Seriously. This has been the best year in a LONG time for smiley and helpful staff. The guest experience has gotten better over the last few years. (Can we be honest, and say that there was a pretty rough run for a few years a while back...?) Let's be thankful for JL!
  23. Front is obviously the best view. Back is obviously the best ejector-air. BUT... my favorite is row 5. The longest-sustained floater air that I've ever experienced on any coaster I've ridden. It's almost like they designed those parabolic peaks FOR row 5. It's crazy. Have fun!!
  24. I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this... it would be so cool for SplashWater Falls to be removed, to be replaced by a killer Mack Watercoaster, to splash down in the same spot, but use the area over and past the railroad for the lift and all that. That's drop-angle needs to be steeeeep. Make sense? And for Pete's sake, could the splashdown actually get people wet on the bridge again?! That needs to be a thing again. A park that stays that hot for that long needs quality water-rides, not just slides and a wave pool. (Though, I do like the addition of Hurricane Harbor.)
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/