Angry_Gumball

Speaking of our bumps and bruises, I am actually still a little sore from that hydroplaning action I got on the straight body slide. My upper back felt like it was skipping across like a stone. A sore reminder of the awesomeness to be had yesterday. And what happens to me in Castaway creek? Towards the end of my lap, I'm relaxing eyes shut floating along on my tube when I suddenly feel my right side lift up...quickly I try to regain my balance and stay on my tube when my flailing arms accidentally smacked Blue Fire Guy We were all just beating each other up yesterday

Personally, I think the whole thing is just getting ridiculous...no need to restate the classic airport scenario again. Aside from that, I was out at the park today with Blue Fire Guy, JeffyJosephNorcal, and my cousin...and had a surprise meet up with Flagg o' dim and RJvader. Initially when we got to the park, we made a b-line straight towards GS...only to find out it wasn't open/experiencing technical difficulties (which was NOT due to sound problems like some kid had sarcastically said as he left...). The ride did eventually open later in the afternoon with wait times of only 20 minutes! During this time we headed to Flight Deck for a walk-on ride in the front row and decided to hit up Boomerang Bay early before it got crowded...which it did! In Boomerang Bay is when we ran into Flagg and RJvader. 5 of us decided to do the 5-man run on Didgeridoo Falls raft slide which proved to be wild, out of control! Being as the line was short we went for an encore ride before moving on. Down Under Thunder (DUT) was a must as well, where BFG and I got some nice airtime along with Flagg and RJvader. Poor Jeff almost wiped out as his raft was turning every which way over the airtime hump...wish I had caught this on video! After grabbing lunch, one of my friends messages me telling me GS finally opened (around 1:00 I believe). Once we got there I expected a full queue but found that no overflow switchbacks were even being used. We did 4 rides back-to-back before taking a break and hitting up the rides en route to Drop Tower...all walk-ons. We finished the evening doing GS 3 more times. The last ride however had a longer wait as Boomerang Bay (people eater on hot days) was closed. Highlights/lowlights: - 5 man run on DF - Finally doing most of BB for the first time this season - SHORT wait times for most of the rides. Didn't bother with another certain wooden coaster though as even a 4 train wait would be 20 minutes - Finally hitting my 80th lap on GS...final ride with a little wiggle room in row 2 provided some crazy uphill airtime! I'm still amazed at how forceful that first drop is too! - GS now has a "Wait from this point" sign up. It has an adjustable dial pointing to wait times. A nice little addition however the GP like to rotate the dial giving false readings. I already know what to expect wait-wise so it won't mislead me but this can be a little frustrating for the GP. Just a minor nitpick but shouldn't a 'wait from this point' be a fixed number and not a variable? - Impatient GP when it came to GS's AM delay - Getting spat on by some slobs while riding Flight Deck...effing 10-year-old punks...way too young to be wandering in a park by yourselves...Glad I had my sunglasses on as that would have been spit in the eyes... - Not that it happened to us, but there was some friction between some GP and a group of line jumpers - While the walls were fresh this morning (saw a worker get in the queue with his little disc sander, smiled when we mentioned graffiti cleanup) it all mysteriously reappears. Not as bad as what it was last week but definitely inevitable. The park will figure something out to get rid of this eventually...hard to do in mean time while the park's up for daily operation. So now, the burning question. Today was June 30th...I believe this was the final day for noise tests to be conducted. Anyone going to the park this week want to chime in and let us know if GS is running? We did see some new lumber sitting in the back section of the park for the modifications to be done (per the permit center page the other day). And something that made my day: New banners at Carousel...wait, I see something...I spy some familiar riders! I see Blue Fire Guy and I in the 'last row', RCTbrony and V2-Dude in front of us, and one of the other members we met during the promo shoot!

^Kongoudurixolution! A perfect blend of 3 painful rides...though Kong is one of the better of the SLCs out there.

Roar would be another worthy candidate if you want your spine realigned for you In all seriousness, I'm hoping that the ride will continue to operate as normal, or at least weekends so that they can finish tunneling the coaster. Because of daily operation, it would be impossible to run the ride during the Monday-Friday schedule while assembling/installing the walls. I'm now curious to see what the readings were when they did noise tests...to see how far above the levels it was. Also I feel that the city requirements for noise levels in that given zone is utterly ridiculous. It all goes back to the cliché airport story. May sound silly but whoever set requirements for noise levels in that given zone must have been thinking out their

^ Kong would be too easy...lets take them down to SFMM and let them ride Revolution in its current state for eternity. Now that is a true experience!

I don't mind more tunnels but at the same time I feel like Prudential has complete power over CGA. In the end money talks... No, all of this BS has to come to a stop. The city needs to put their foot down. It really should have been that way from the start. I know CF and Prudential came to an agreement but it seems like CF agreed to something a bit overboard. Here we go with endless incoherent rants now...why were they testing noise outside? Last I knew they work INDOORS in a INSULATED BUILDING. I know I said this before but inside the Star Tower I can faintly hear GS as it plunges down...and that is with being in a non insulated building/cabin. And that's with being right next to the drop! Those offices are much further away... End Saturday morning rant.

Driving earlier to the store...when the light changes green I visioned being on an LSM-based coaster launching off (at only 35mph or so sadly). I also vision smooth magnetic braking when I would slow down to a stop at the red light.

Who woulda thought a 70-foot drop tower would freak me out over the world's tallest drop tower? Yup, this is true! I rode a Larson/ARM drop tower at the beginning of the month and found it to be quite crazy actually. Other than looking at the shadow, you can not tell when you're at the top of the tower as the cabin has an overhang obstructing your view. As soon as the cabin gets to the top it immediately drops! Well, it more or less actually feels like it shoots you down as I had more ejector airtime on this while I just had that tingly floaty airtime on the Intamin-based towers. And capsule-based water slides, where you climb into the coffin-like box, lean against the wall and wait to be dropped nearly straight down. It happens so quick you honestly don't have time to react or realize what just happened

You know you're a nerd when... Earlier at work, I was wearing one of my Gold Striker shirts. One of my regular customers comes in to drop off some work when he sees the shirt and asks if I've been riding the coaster anymore (knew that I was excited for the promo shoot months back). He then told me that each time he sees the commercial, first thing that comes to mind is me and my countless laps on the coaster. So I guess I've made a name for myself You also know you're a theme park nerd when you find things in video games that make you think coasters...an example would be in my Zelda Oracle of Ages game. There's a 6-sided colored block you push around. One of the colors are blue. When you push the block onto a special pad, a flame pops up from a torch, based on the color panel that's face down on the pad...so yea, seeing a blue flame immediately made me think of Blue Fire at EP... On LoZ Link's Awaking DX, there's a dungeon that is known as the "World of Color" dungeon...this should be a no-brainer (This dungeon was exclusive to the Game Boy Color) Lastly, these mine cart levels in my Donkey Kong Country Returns game immediately make me think of Gold Striker...you have mine carts, moles wearing hardhats with little head lights on them (I have a Gold Striker hardhat with a head light), throwing pick axes (kind of like the axe that the prospector is holding in the logo), the carts are able to jump (airtime), and there are literally head-choppers that will kill off DK and Diddy.

Further adding to Zelda...I am also currently playing this game, trying to figure out where to go for the next dungeon...this is actually my first time playing this fully. I recently found the "World of Color Dungeon" and messed around in there. Also gotta love the MANDATORY trading sequence in order to progress in the game. Also going between the two Oracle series, in the 2nd dungeon in each game. I had Seasons back in 2001 (Got it when it came out) and got pretty far but never completed the game. I've never played Ages before so this is a fresh new experience. The Oracle series is very unforiving though as when you are hit by an enemy, your moment of invincibility is minimal...so basically you can completely drain all your hearts in seconds before you can get away. When I'm fed up with getting killed on Zelda, I am struggling on the ever-so-difficult DK Country Returns 3D...in the Caves world (Mine cart levels galore, can't help it but think of a certain wooden coaster that just opened at my home park!).

If those became available in the TPR store I would buy it in a heartbeat! And...new page, you know what this means! YOLOmascots on YOLOstilts!

After watching the POV of Full Throttle several times, the best part (to me) looks like that giant loop. Superman Ultimate Flight's rather slow barrel roll at SFDK already provides a freaky experience as you are literally dangling out of our seat...thighs pressing against lapbar...a nice, falling sensation from 150 feet up. I suspect a similar experience on Full Throttle. I can't really judge the tophat but from the POV it looks like one could get a quick pop of air coming up but remain firmly seated coming back down.

For me, it has to at least look presentable...not something that appears rushed/thrown together. But I guess it fits with SFMM's theme...(See Scream, seems like an afterthought in my opinion...generic metal shed-like station, parking lot lines...but no need to beat the already beaten dead horse). On the flipside, SFMM did a nice job with the whole DC Universe area as well as Apocalypse. YOLO's area just feels like something is missing...maybe there's still some finishing touches to be done to the area? Now, just wait until this area gets vandalized...happened at CGA within 2 days of Gold Striker being open to the public and the queue was already littered with junk...who cares if Joe Schmoe was here? So was I...and the other big trend: Follow my IG @imanidiot I follow back. But I digress. Don't be surprised if these kind of things happen down there...it really detracts from the atmosphere, the area you are spending most of your time.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the area looks unfinished...actually, the area seems a bit rushed as it still looks like a construction zone. Yes, I'm all for the ride experience but the area around the ride is important too...keep in mind this is where you will be standing for the next hour before your few minutes of actual riding. And again since I started a new page, here we go!

A quite wet Gold Striker, 6/23/13. Unfortunately the rain itself stopped but the track was nice and wet!

After being held in the brake run for 5 minutes while ride ops attempted to keep us entertained...while slowly loading the train in front of us...I say Grizzly, CGA...TAER IT DOWN!!11! I haven't ridden Grizzly in several months (Last time I rode it actually was before Spring Break...and finally re-rode it again yesterday...why I don't know but I wasn't missing anything).

Well, Gold Striker will end up stapling you anyway when you keep your hands up...those lapbars are heavy!

Saturday I actually had a pretty crazy ride in row 2, red train. That double up into the second to last turn can get you if you aren't paying attention. But in the end, every row provides a solid experience. Speaking of the double up, I had yet another body slam/head smash into fellow rider's shoulder...as well as me (accidentally) elbow punching the fellow rider yes, that is the strangest moment in the ride! Another tip...riding solo? Sit on the left side of the train and feel the forces in the turnarounds! With no bodies to act as buffer on the right, you practically end up laying in the empty seat!

I'm sure there is a certain db level they must be under and they are just collecting the data. Collecting data, conducting noise tests to see if what permanent modifications done to the ride are sufficient. I'm hoping that everything is going good with the tests, would hate to see it go SBNO at the end of the month (they have until the 30th to test noise levels). I'm sure what was done already should be good enough and will get the final approval to keep it running as opposed to the temporary permit they have now to operate it.

I did see you! Yes, I was in the brown Gold Striker shirt! Only 2 of us had the GS shirts. but yup you saw us! I even went as far as pointing out the fact that somebody was wearing a TTD shirt. You were next in line

Quick write up from the weekend. -New Broadway show was excellent! -Gold Striker crew is picking up the pace -More trains were stopped on the lift due to illegal onride filming. In fact the riders in front of BFG and I on one of our laps was filming (and had no camera control)...was praying the whole time it wouldn't come loose and hit us. Vid may make it on YouTube...and I may see us blocking our faces should the phone break loose from their hands. -Grizzly...why did I even bother riding you? Operations were horrid. Trains were being dispatched every 5 minutes. The ride ops were actually trying to entertain us in the brake run and such...which was a fail as we were all just wanting to get off. -Did I really see 3 cars running on Psycho Mouse's track at once? One was leaving station, one mid course, and a train just coming into brake run. They were cranking the trains out quick! -Gold Striker in wet conditions proves to be quite an experience...just wish the rain didn't stop as soon as we dispatched. -As posted previous page, the Prudes (as we call them) were conducting noise tests outside of their building with boom mic Saturday. -Shout-out to running into a fellow TPR member at FD's queue...being XYZ! Nice to finally put a face to the name -Lastly, wait times Saturday and Sunday averaged about 30-50 minutes. I rode GS 6x Sat and 5x Sunday. And a couple noteworthy photos... All in all this was a great weekend! Can't wait to go back! I can live with this kind of queue...which was like this several times Sunday. Yes these people in background were debating whether to ride or not. Why not decide before queuing? And a Super Moon rising behind Gold Striker...man this was bright!

It is, along with the other offices. Back in the day that was all parking. The city thought it would be a brilliant idea to use that land they own for office complexes...now they can observe the headache and BS that shall rise.

Reporting live from star tower, sound tests are under way. Note the boom mic, kind of hard to tell as digital zoom sucks.

Watching YOLO do its test runs, that giant loop looks quite interesting...like it would provide some floater hangtime that could feel like inverted airtime. However, seeing a POV that was floating around on Youtube, the area looks very much like a construction site And since this post made it on a new page, here you go. 3 wild YOLOs appear. • Attack • PKMN • Item -> Run .................... Got away safely!

Looks a little too far north to be Alameda. You are correct that Alameda did have a park Neptune Beach. This looks more toward West Oakland/Emeryville. I don't see the Bay Bridge in the shot so it was either not constructed yet or the image is too far north of it. Doing some digging, there was a place known as Shellmound Park in Emeryville, CA (appearing to have sat where Ikea sits now). I'll update this post if I find any photos of it.