Angry_Gumball

I'm tempted to fly again, would like to try it in the dark. $10 is a steal!

Drop capsule slides are legitimately freaky yet awesome simultaneously. Lots of slide options out there for Boomerang Bay, and more slides can help spread the insane BB crowds on those hot days.

So, is snyone going to the Thank You Thursdays event tonight? I will be there once again

^Invertigarden is the so-called name that was coined a while back after finding the former Invertigo site was replaced with a garden. It has also been called the "Inverti-grass" and "Inverti-lawn."

Boomerang Bay additions...Yes, definitely! One thing I can see happening is a set of mat racers between Rapids and the 2 "Manteca Water Slides" as well as maybe building more off the Didgeridoo Falls tower (Drop capsule slide anyone?) Small waterparks like Sunsplash inspire hope with Boomerang Bay, where space is limited. Sunsplash is the ultimate examle of a "tight fit" water park, where slides are literally piled on top of each other.

Getting seat jacked is just highly annoying and I have called people out on snatching my seat when I was putting my goods in the bin. On a ride like Flying Eagles, it is even moreso annoying as you have 8 tubs, a group of 8 adults who are going to ride as a group (single rider/tub, otherwise we'd exceed weight limit) and 1 little (unsupervised) kid slips past the ride op and literally shoves you out of the way as you're getting ready to climb in...then you get the lackadaisical ride op who says "well, I didn't see them come in so I can't do anything..." Actions like this, I feel that just making them get back in line/back behind air gates is sufficient unless they decide to not listen to instruction. When it comes to being defiant is when it comes to being kicked off. Back to the lazy ride op... Well, you did count how many people went past you so you should be paying attention! On the flipside, I have seen where the park has put their foot down...and at one time had seen a group of rebelious/violent line jumpers get ejected (yup, escorted by security and police) off park property. I've also seen where they continuously stop the lift on Gold Striker when one decides to whip out their phone and film themselves a shakey 'illegal' POV. When it comes to the rest of the rides where we're riding with a friend, we usually designate 1 bag person for each row, or in the group while the rest of us gets seated and saves the empty seat for their riding buddy. Doing it this way also helps reduce congestion at the bins, therefore speeding up loading times! I usually ride Vortex once a visit as a 'courtesy ride' and to make my day feel like I've done more different rides. Otherwise, that's that. On rare occasions, I'll ride Grizzly...which was last ridden a month ago...last ride before that was before April/spring break. I'll gladly spend my hour wait for Gold Striker instead.

I won't be able to make it for that but am hitting up the park on the 11th...I'm due for an SFDK run (Sorry CGA, I'll be back again!). After watching Robb's SUF video, I've developed a craving to ride one of my elite steelies

^Yes, those spitting "South Park" kids as I like to say (the 4 kids reminded me of the quartet of kids from South Park, up to no good)... That spit actually lasted quite a while and felt continuous, much like a mister (Since when did Flight Deck become equipped with misters?) I'm sure when we followed them as they got to mommy and daddy, they felt a little uncomfortable. Yes, I hate kids who are old enough to know better yet have more spit coming out of their mouth than a baby sucking and teething. In the end, lesson learned...don't talk about it (to where they can hear you, just go straight to ride op...and let the kids be surprised). In the end, I believe in karma and something will nip them in the butt Further adding on in regards to our lovely B&M (rocking non B&M rolling stock), I typically keep the restraints lower (shoulder pressure) in a way that it keeps the uncomfortable blocky saddle away from my crotch. Keeping the OTSRs low, I'm able to kind of stretch my neck and keep the ears clear of smashing. But standing on an end seat regardless of what row just sucks, period. My shoulders were smashed, along with my lower jaw. So yea, stick toward the center of the train. I posted this in CGA thread but here goes my seating diagram for Vortex: (this applies to all rows) I would have to say that Vortex and Scream were the 2 roughest B&Ms I've been on. Scream is a notch below Vortex, but it still shakes your body around. In the end, you know there's something wrong when you have to 'ride a coaster correctly' instead of just hopping on and enjoying the ride!

People look at me like I'm crazy for having over 100 total laps on Gold Striker...actually, when I hit my 100th lap on GS (I completely nerded out and made a sign for my 100th...see avatar), everyone pretty much treated me like a celebrity...some wanted to take photos with me and my sign I've been keeping tabs on laps as you can see in my signature.

I'm always thinking about what's in store for the future and upcoming seasons...I just don't post too much about it on the boards...keeping my pipe dreams among my coaster enthusiast friends. Actually, something I remember reading (but could no longer find after I initially read it) was during the dark days of CGA when it almost fell into the clutches of JMA. When the JMA purchase fell through and CF was to remain the long term owner of the park, it was mentioned about a new coaster and water slide attraction. Well, the roller coaster happened (obviously, being Gold Striker). Now that water slide attraction I initially read about, I have never been able to find again since I read it back in December 2012. I do feel Boomerang Bay is lacking, as much as it has a kick@$$ slide (Down Under Thunder). But it needs more slides...2 body slides and 3 raft slides are a bit lacking and I usually spend as little as maybe 15 minutes in BB (riding DUT a few times) to maybe an hour/1.5 hours doing everything before drying off and going back to regular park mode. I do like however that BB does have 2 slides that are friendly to street clothes (only needing to take off shoes/socks) without having to change entirely and all of that.

I usually go on I-5 on Saturday mornings to get to SFMM and it really isn't much of a problem. The longest delay I ever had was 15 minutes. That's good to know! Once I find the time we are to meet at SFMM, I will plan accordingly and probably give myself an extra 30-40 minutes...I like to be early for things.

So-Cal people...I have a question: First off, I'm planning on staying at a single hotel...doing my research and such, I'm planning on staying as close to Knott's as possible...Toss up of Radisson and Knott's Resort (avoiding the smaller area hotels as they are known for being...yucky). With this said, I know KBF -> SFMM is about an hour drive. Not sure what time we will have to meet at SFMM, but how would the I-5 traffic be early Saturday morning? That way I can gauge how soon I need to head out/arrange with fellow TPR member/friend who's carpooling with us to SFMM.

^ *5 seconds into listening to it...grabs sledgehammer and smashes head* I'll stick with Toy Factory's catchy loop. Let's look at something awkward...Don't ask why, just go along with this...

I'm happy to hear that they replaced Vortex with Flight Deck, especially after my rough Sunday ride on it! I wondered why they didn't have FD running last week as you're pretty much almost there once you pass Rue Le Dodge. With that said, it should help disperse crowds and perhaps shorter lines for Gold Striker

I also love the back seat on "our" Demon. CGA is one of the parks I'd really like to visit in the next few years- if nothing else I's love to ride Eagle's Flight! Does the CGA Demon play the whole soundtrack? I have a clip of that song on my iPod. Our Demon once played Mambo #5, Single Ladies, and 500 miles (along with other pop songs)... I haven't been in the queue since they changed out the in-park music.

The "Magic Seat" I also found worked wonders on SFMM's Viper. Smooth graceful ride for the most part, and nasty entry into corkscrew and final donkey punch coming out. The front on Viper was just brutal overall

Personally, I found both corkscrews themselves to be quite smooth...it's just coming in and out of them...worse though coming into them. And its consistent among Arrow coasters as I experienced the same sensation on SFMM's Viper when it came to the corkscrews.

On the other hand, I've pretty much figured out Vortex and found out why I heard screams of pain/cursing to my right while I was saying "Wow! This is smooth!" Basically, when riding Vortex, you pretty much want to stay on the 2 inside seats. The outside left and right seats are the ones that will smash you skull. Here's a representation of one's rides/seating configuration on Vortex, using our lovely emoticons: So yea, giving bags to somebody else to put in bins next time, to guarantee my sitting/standing in inside seats Now to take an ibuprofen...all this talk about rough rides gave me a headache

^ "Welcome to the Demon! hahahaha!" (which sounds like he's instead saying Nom nom nom nom nom!) Or if we want to go way back...*whispers* "Welcome to the Demon! I hope you survive in 1 piece!" I haven't ridden Demon in a little while but when I did, We (Blue Fire Guy and I) were both seeking the most painful row possible just for the fun of it (YOLO). We sat up front in the non-freshly rehabbed train and to our surprise, the ride was actually smooth. I haven't actually sat in the "magic arrow seat" for probably a good month or so now. The dreaded smaller 2nd loop wasn't so bad and the only part that sucked, but sucked just slightly less was the coathanger transition into the corkscrews and coming out. How Arrow got the corkscrews themselves amazing but the transitions in and out of them horribly baffles me. *begins wrapping wire around a pencil* Ok, so that's how they did it!

Last Thursday, furing the CGA ERT event I saw some people 'inspecting' and 'critiquing' the ride's structure, uncertain of its durability. They first point out the obvious (that it's wood, thinking wood is weak) followed by me hearing them say "Oh, and it's got styrofoam holding it together too!" (further questioning the ride's durability). The "Styrofoam" is only a sound dampener but I opted to look the other way and grin instead. Then I see people get in line for GS, and leave as the line's 'too long.' On the flipside, everybody gets in line for Grizzly and stays...like its got some kind of suction force. Yea, I'll spend my 40 minute wait for Gold Striker instead

Gold Striker, California's Great America...just a few hours ago...full of airtime, mind blown again!

Today was a great day out at the park again. No real news to share other than that the foundation has been poured for the Zombie High (ZH) maze (Behind Grizzly). No real visible changes on Dia De Los Muertos (now on calling it DDLM or DOTD) Some random tidbits from today: -Played the rather addicting wheel spinner game where I won a BOGO basketball game, a BOGO churro, and finally a front of the line pass (naturally I use it for Gold Striker, where I got front row). -My neighbor and cousin won a BOGO Sky Flyer ride so we all split costs and did that...my neck is actually a little bit sore from the pressure of the skycoaster vest...rubbing and such. -Vortex ran like today...I took the last row, far right seat. Glad I got it out of the way early -Clench 'n Squish on Logger's, didn't get too wet -And of course, airtime-filled rides on Gold Striker! Some good sustained pops of ejector airtime and actually got the perfect moment of zero-g floater air for a nice sustained period! Yes, my mind is still blown by Gold Striker (and not because it's my home park/me being a CGA fanboy) -Lastly, Flight Deck's shark train felt like it was struck by a sharknado....was running a little rough once we got in the helix. Eagle train however ran pretty smooth. I'm ready for this Thursday's 2nd ERT session (I believe it's their last Thank You Thursday event), and really tempted to fly again in the dark ($10 flights, that's a steal!)!

^Snapping is a technique pulled off on the Flying Scooters, where one skillfully maneuvers the tubs so that the cables 'slack' and 'snap' back to their taught position. It's all timing and knowing the motions of the ride. What is basically happening is that you are getting your tub to either move faster or slower than the main ride supports. When this happens, the cables get slack and tighten up when the tub catches up or slows back down...like when you'd swing too high on the swing set and your chains slack! Yes, I've snapped like crazy on these, and can control myself for light or ridiculously heavy snaps (enough that the op freaks out and hits the e-stop). I'm snapping less now and keeping things light as to not panic anybody. Nice trip report! Too bad you ended up visiting during that dead time between the promo shoots and the actual opening.

Looking through last year's WCB photos has only made me even more pumped! Wait, 6 weeks until? That will creep upon me fast...time to get the ball rolling on travel plans and lodging!

Tonight was a pretty solid few hours, enjoyed the short waits. I got in about 7 laps on Gold Striker tonight, thus adding to my 100th lap. Riding up front at night can actually be quite brutal especially when that double up comes up. It's pretty dark back there and you almost don't even see it coming at all. Line cutters were running rampant (had a WHOLE FAMILY squeeze past us after I was just talking in general to my neighbor about line cutting and how season passes should be revoked for such actions). Fun fact: All I rode today was Gold Striker. Was going to ride Flight Deck but then I would have been short a lap.