Ridewatchers

The midway was also the most "dead" during Haunt when I last attended. I kept hearing the operators saying "yo, any zombies wanna scare my line!?" There was just nothing, and during hot days (like the dog days we're having now), the area seems like a ghost town. Maybe they can draw a little more traffic with some of these refurbs/additions.

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin at DLR as a kid on opening day. 4 1/2 hours. Left because ride was in a breakdown state most of the time.

Yes, it's good to have a flexible mindset with things like this. As far as line-jumping is concerned, some people are of the position that extreme line-jumping is acceptable. Here's my position: since I'm usually first in line anyway, who cares? Your position may differ. What's that? You're 207th in line because you didn't plan your trip well? Didn't you make sure to get to the gates 1 hour before opening? Why did you go on ride A then ride B when ride B then A would have cut off a 2-hour wait? With coasting events, I've only been to ones offered by the park. When Twisted Colossus opened at SFMM, gold passholders got ERT for two days. This event was sponsored by the park and was worth it. They kept all the filthy day ticket and regular passholders out and made sure to admit only the very best. Lines were cut to a bare minimum and things moved fast likely since we were joined by senior management and the park wanted to make a good impression. But really, everything was not perfect. The trains sometimes got stuck in the sharp turn out of the station and the maintenance "solution" was to take a garden hose and water the tracks. The train screeched sadly out of the loading zone and whined to the lift hill. Now to me, that's at the very most entertaining, and yes--I am going to make mention of it because it was really stupid. Look, scream! is one ride over, not at the loading area. TC is debuting today, not Scream! But you would think they are re-grandopening Scream! because of the mad squeals and, right, screams coming from the track out of turn one. To me, that's lousy. They had plenty of time to test and the first impression with VIP guests was a sorry whine and multiple breakdown segments. When the garden hose came out, I thought it worth writing about. Having an opinion that differs from a false-grin shouldn't warrant the ban-hammer or the garden hose.

Trip report for Friday, 10/2 The park was a relative ghost town today at opening, with regulars in the gold pass line and no more than 500 at the main gate besides. Ridewatchers first went to Full Throttle. CLOSED. Then it was time for Goliath. CLOSED. Lex Luthor? Looked closed, but nevermind. TC had almost no line, and Ridewatchers was fortunate enough to get 8 or so rides in over the course of the day, although none of them had "double dueling." It was a bit funny to see a security guard at the TC gate looking for line jumpers On one ride, there were only TWO people in line besides myself, and they were waiting for the front row...that's how empty it was! Goliath opened later, but it was a one-train operation, and it took about 15 minutes to get on well in the station. For some reason, the drop doesn't seem so exciting anymore, and it's as if there's more friction on the downhill, but it was fun. Buccanner (called "Buck" by the staff) was empty, and one of the ride ops had to ride with me because of SF's "buddy system." FT finally opened, and the deceptively short line past the switchbacks under the canopy was 20 minutes. Superman was running on the left side, which is rare, and probably for good reason: there was a high-pitched screeching sound on the way up and out of the curve and into the vertical, and it was clear maintenance was needed. But we had a great time, and everyone in our car was cheering loudly, like they actually had fun! Gold rusher: CLOSED. Maintenance people were on the beginning section of track for an unknown reason. Jet Stream: CLOSED. Tidal Wave: CLOSED. Carnival games: CLOSED. Yes, many things were closed, and that's really not fair during a normal operating day--especially during Fright Fest. When it started to get busy at about 3:30, it was time to go, but despite the numerous closures, it was a good trip thanks for plenty of ERT on Colossus and Superman.

They'd never remove Viper since it has a record-setting (and record-holding) 7 inversions for US steel coasters. Ninja needs to go for environmental degradation though.

When you get to the park is a BIG factor. Also, this routing plan has a lot of backtracking: you're going all the way to one end of the park to ride Goliath only to come all that way back to a longer line. IF you plan well, you'll get to the park (meaning you're at the park kiosk) no later than 9:50 or so and be in front when they open the gates. Yolo, X2, Tatsu, Superman, then Goliath would be cheaper IMO. This is a very linear touring plan. Don't forget that walking takes time. But if you come late, this plan isn't good anymore.

Was Log Jammer --> Yolo mentioned yet?

Poor enforcement of line-jumping rules and conduct can make for a particular bad visit and make people feel like the park sucks even though their collection is quite good. Things like line-jumping and proximate matters like holding space for 20 of your friends can get out of hand on really busy days, and you're caught between lackadaisical security and obnoxious (and sometimes dangerous) nose-dripping teenagers while 500 deep in some standby.

Free sports bottles included with every 2016 season dining pass

Got commemorative Revolution button at about 1 PM today! They actually ran out at about 12:30 (after the park president was interviewed by a news crew), and I asked the president if she had any more. She said she'd have to get some, and after about 30 minutes (in the stand-by line...I NEVER do this!), two ride ops with three tough-looking security guards came with two boxes and started handing them out again. Make sure you get yours!

No sports bottle for existing 2015 dining pass holders, correct?

Acura is Honda's luxury line.

TC SR line anecdote. On Sunday, 7/19, I went to TC in the afternoon and saw that the stand-by line was about 75 minutes long: the line went all the way back to the sandwich place. Instead of standing by, I went to the SR line. There was a heavyset security guy there and I had to actually ask to get to the SR line. He seemed reluctant but said "yes." I was 8th in line and waited no more than 15 minutes to board the train. Cutting off 60 minutes of waiting was definitely worth it, so I tried to get back in the SR line after riding. I went by the same guy, but he stopped me and said, "can I help you?" I said I wanted to ride alone, but he said the SR line was "full" I've never gone to an amusement park and been told that the line was full before...what gives!?

Concur regarding FP on summer Saturday at one of Six Flags' better parks. There is a maxim in the travel industry: "Make people in a hurry pay." If you have flexibility, try to go on a Tuesday or Wednesday. If unable, avoid weekends. If unable, avoid Saturday. If unable, get a flash pass. This issue has been discussed again and again over in the SFMM thread, but the rule is the same: don't rot in line and bake. If you're curious, click the link in my siggy for advice we give to the SFMM community, where temperatures are 10-20 degrees hotter and the heat is much drier.

Measure heights in meters, not in feet.