Angry_Gumball

-Some guy tried using someone else's season pass to get into SFMM...when the attendant at the gate informed him that the pass was someone else's pass, he asks "You mean, I can't use someone else's pass?" -Disneyland, little kid (maybe 8 or 9) asks their parent: "Mommy, is that horse real?" Don't question what's real or not in Disney...everything's real in my book (And yes the horses are real!)

Another awesome GG trip report rolls in! I need to get to this park and get my credits there! I'm sure we'll make it here some point this year

Visits: Day 1: SFMM 4/14/13 Day 2: Disneyland Resort Visit #1 4/15/14 Day 3: Disneyland/DCA 4/16/13 Day 4:Knott's 4/17/13 Day 5: SFMM (Not available yet) 4/18/13 Long story ahead, as you can tell, I like writing about what we did as well as showing the photos! So the big SoCal trip...it's been a while since I've taken time off to take an extended trip let alone going to SoCal. My last visits down that way were 2001 (SFMM) and 1998 (Disney and Knotts...Hello Wind Jammer and dirt lot DCA!). The whole thing went like this: Coming back from SCBB after doing the CGA Au13 media day event, fellow TPR member JeffyJosephNorCal and I are discussing a possible trip to SFMM during the holidays. A lot of this was just talk and I figured why not throw Knotts in as well? At the same time we waited to see if WCB was going to be announced for a February event. Looking further ahead I realized holiday times are tough times to take a vacation and the parks could be busy...so everything was put on standby. Looking at park calendars, we decided that since the parks are open daily for Spring Break this would be a good time to go. Fast forward to February when we're planning our 2 parks...Jeff asks if I want to do Disneyland. Who wouldn't? From there the trip slowly materialized! We were gone from 4/13-4/19...and this has been a great week and is just only the beginning of my 2013 theme park adventures! So SFMM Day 1: This wasn't originally going to happen, we were just going to head down to our motel later in the afternoon but since we have Six Flags passes we decided to squeeze in a courtesy visit as we would be passing by anyway, and it won't cost us a penny (We have gold passes, free parking!). Wow was this place busy! Once we got in, and dealt with lousy cell service (AT&T really sucks when inside the park), I finally got my Ride Hopper app to launch. Seeing that Viper only had a 15 minute wait while Revolution had a 45 minute, we headed to Viper. If it weren't for RH, planning my rides during the day would have been tricky as I wouldn't know what the wait times were until I got to the ride entrance. We rode Viper in the back "Magic Arrow" seat and it rode amazingly well! Just a little bit of headbashing just before the corkscrew but that was it. Next on our list was to check out Tatsu only to find it had a close to 2 hour wait (Yikes!). Apocalypse had a 90 minute wait and naturally, only ran 1 train. After grabbing a bite to eat since it was the afternoon, we hopped over to Batman as it only had a 25 minute wait. Since this was my first experience with it, I may as well give my input...the queue was rather hot, stuffy, and smelt like an odd mix of fart and body odor. This is when you 'take the tunnel' under the station building. I can only imagine how bad it would be for those ridiculously hot summer days! The ride itself was awesome, almost like a compact CGA Flight Deck that is continuously forceful (whereas FD is spread out/features less elements). I'm also amazed at how smooth this Beemer runs! Next on our list which had less than 10 minute waits was Gold Rusher (Lil' Goldy!). I loved this ride! Sure it's simple, not the fastest tallest thing but we took the last row of the last car and we got whipped around pretty good! Fun laterals, floater pops of air, and sweet views of YOLOcoaster! Just watch it when you put your hands up, you just may smack a small branch or two (like I did!). However the braking sucks as the rubber skid pads cause the train to stop rather quick! Brace yourself, you have been warned! Since Riddler's Revenge was across the way with only a 30 minute wait, we hopped over to that. While I expected to get smashed about due to recent comments I read about the ride, it actually flew through pretty smooth! Naturally, there can't be a visit to SFMM without several dozen line jumpers per ride...regardless of what the signs say. Speaking of line jumpers, there was this lady who was wanting to meet her group ahead of me. However her husband was hesitant and told her that what she's doing is cutting and is wrong (yay, someone with a conscience!). They waited as the line made a huge gap ahead. I waited too as they were actually going to let us go ahead. I just motioned for them to go ahead as they at least acknowledged that what they were doing was wrong... Checking in on ride waits, I saw that Tatsu only had a 10 minute wait as of 20 minutes ago from when it was updated. When I got there, it was closed. Waiting a few minutes to see if it would reopen as the line was actually really short, we left and decided to hit up Revolution as it only had 15 minutes. Now here we go with my little misadventure on Rev. I came off the ride telling myself 'never again.' Yes I rode a piece of history, an ACE landmark, but I also rode a nice gem covered in poo! Why? The restraints! So the ride begins, drop approaches...unaware of how much this ride would try to murder me in every possible way, I put my hands up. Bottom of the first drop was ok, a little shuffling but bearable. After cresting the first hill and taking on the second banked turn is when I took the first punch to the head...millisecond after, another punch to the opposite side...rinse and repeat. Bottom of 3rd drop, you know the drill. Finally the midcourse brakes approach, sigh of relief. Nice semi forceful loop though probably not up to Anton's standards followed by more blows to the head. Coming out of the tunnel, I was happy for the trims as I could not take it anymore. But nope, final helix just had done the death blow leaving me exiting the ride with a nice headache. Yes, I'm calling Revolution in it's current state a POS. I may give it a go in a row up front as I did take the very last row above the wheels. Otherwise, when Flying Turns opens, The Voyage gets its timberliners, pigs fly, and Revolution is restored to its former glory is when I'll ride it again. And I usually try not to dislike rides. Needing to take a quick break we walked around down by Goliath and up the hill to SEFK. It reported a 20 minute wait so why not? Last time I rode this was in 2001 when I left the ride utterly disappointed. Was glad I only waited 15 minutes for it. Well, you think the revision would fix it? Let's find out! Boarding the train, I decided to take the back row so we'd get the highest point...also there's only 2 seats in the back which don't have the "bionic arm" as we call it...you know, that hideous arm shield on the outermost seats that restricts any arm movement. Well, away we go! The backwards launch felt very bizarre and before we knew it, we were up 400 or so feet, looking down at Terra Firma. Finally, the weightlessness I had been looking forward to when I rode in 2001 happened! Not to mention, watching the little ant-sized peeps walking below like I was playing RCT. In the end, this ride was a HUGE improvement! Not a top coaster but it's worth a visit now! Finally, Tatsu reopens! 30-40 minutes later, I get my 50th credit! Tatsu was definitely the highlight of my Sunday visit. Since it was my 50th credit, it only called for buying an onride photo! By the time we had gotten on it, it was dark so there wasn't much to see...just soaring in darkness! The pretel loop is where this ride really shines! Yup a 2005 Beemer with old school forces! The rest of the ride is just fun! I'll be revisiting you again come Thursday when it's daylight! The first wave of photos were taken on my iPhone as I didn't feel like using lockers that day. However I found out that at SFMM, lockers are there but are not even enforced. They actually provide cubbies on the ride platform and instructed us to place our goods there! That means, Thursday I can use the nicer camera and get photos! Until then here's the first wave of photos! So we're on the road...Goodbye Hayward, see you in a week! Checking map...equivalent to "Are we there yet?" The things you see out in the middle of nowhere! Are we there yet? I see hills ahead, we must be getting closer! And into the Grape Vine's butt we go! Ooh, what's this? I always love turning the corner and seeing a massive mess of coasters twisting about! ... Closer shot...you can see the YOLOop from the freeway! Mmmm! You can't have Six Flags without having advertisements greeting you as you enter the parking lot! Yikes! We're parked way over here, it's gonna be a busy day! X2Bus? To ride or not to? We'll get there faster walking. Walking is a good thing...plenty of photo ops outside the gates! Nerf'd Colossus A twisted mess of water slides! I don't think I'd have the guts to go down this slide! For you park entrance fanatics out there! I always loved the looks of SFMM's main entry plaza! Loop-dee-loooooop! *ow!* I see a ring! Never put YOLOglasses next to YOLOcoaster's poster...they only asked for it YOLO! Wheee! Hugging a Schwarzkopf...little did I know this botched masterpiece would try to smash my head like nobody's business! One of the 'death turns' Onto Viper, in the magic seat! Viper's lift, wish I caught it with the train... Another trainless shot. You'd see a lot of this on a slow/bad day. Ok, let's go head on up to Tatsu! Uh....well, it was a good idea in theory... Let's go on "Batman logo: The Ride" instead. One of the nicest themed rides in SFMM! A "POV" shot through the fence, giving the illusion that you're on the ride as you pass directly under the track! (Forceful) LOOOOOP DE LOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!! We're approaching something... Take the (hot, smelly, stuffy) Tunnel! Duh-nuh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh Duh-nuh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh... BAT-MAN! ... Exiting the ride you get some nice views of the track! Over to Gold Rusher (AKA, Lil' Goldy)! For you train storage track fans... Our chariot approaches... Over to Riddler's Revenge! Noted. Ok, maybe not. I really love the "Slow Shutter" app on my iPhone! YOLO and Tatsu...both rather curvy! Over to Apocalypse, where the attendant up front told us it was a 90 minute wait...I'll get my GCI fix Thursday...single train on a busy day doesn't cut it for me... SFMM's carnival slingshot. It's actually mounted on footers, making it feel slightly less carnie! Seeing Tatsu only had a 10 minute wait, we hurry and trek up the hill...note the sun bleached track and supports...and sections that look fresh due to tree shade "Sorry but this attraction is experiencing an extended delay." Let's hit up the poo'd on classic! Little did I know what I was in for. It looks nice, and it may be an ACE landmark, but the restraint system is HORRIBLE! I'm sure we all know that by now After riding, it was time to let my head settle down...what better way than to check out another white coaster that won't have OTSR's! Mmmm....YOLOop! We're taking the scenic route as we decide what to ride next as we have just a little over an hour left. Some nice views while climbing the long windy hill up to Superman! I...touched...YOLOcoaster! The path takes you really close to a tunnel that will be taken on YOLOcoaster! YOLOsunset...probably one of my favorite photos from that day! ... Curves... 'nuff said! Dusty supports = Dust YOLO! Last YOLOpic of the day... And now I'm apparently green. I'm also Superman! And finally...#50 (NERD)! Wow, don't I look quite exhausted! As I left my paper in the car I doodled it on, iPhone doodle was the next best thing...gotta love technology! Tatsu at Night...awesomeness! Flying through blackness! Good night SFMM, see you in a few days! Onride from Tatsu! Yes, my neighbor looks terrified, my cousin has a face full of hair, and Jeff and I take in the ride with pure amazement! And we have arrived in Anaheim...stay tuned for the next day, coming soon!

Awesome! This only makes me anxious to see this in person! Let's just say when I first watched the POV I was at Disney California Adventure, taking a break at the Cozy Cone Motel when I heard the POV was uploaded. Watching it made my Disney day that much more magical! When I saw the off ride footage, it looked like it was flying through those turns! Thanks for sharing!

8/10, reminds me of Xcelerator at Knotts (Flames)

Totally understand. I think we like to give at least 2-3 months notice on our events. It's not always the case, but it's what we'd like to plan for! 2-3 months is more than generous enough time to put in for me

I feel like I was just there (Ok so I was, on the 18th). I also snapped a few photos of YOLOcoaster in memories of my trip. YOLO's looking really neat, loving how close the track gets to the Superman plaza! Paint wise, a lot of the rides are looking pretty faded...Scream is 1 of them, Tatsu is another. Funny thing is that when you head up the path towards Tatsu from Apocalypse, you can see the 'farmer's tan' on Tatsu's supports, as in the shade of the trees help preserved some of the shininess and vibrance of the support color. I'm not sure if it's the SoCal sun or what it is but it really seems to 'bleach' the rides! When heading back down towards Apocalypse, I at first asked myself how I'm over by Colossus as the supports were nice and...white! Now to process my photos (shot in RAW) for my SoCal trip report

Say that it's a local park (Say that there was a Bay Area Bash of some sort) it is usually fairly easy to get time off..especially if it's just a 1-day event. However, preferably weekends would be better (especially if it's a multi-day event) but that doesn't mean weekdays aren't possible for me Like everyone said, advance notice is good. I can and have switched days off in the past with a theme park event. This happened when I attended CGA's Au13 announcement as it fell on a Wednesday...which I traded my typical Saturday off for...that way I'm not losing money and keeps my boss happy! I do work a 9-5 job, Monday thru Friday...and I alternate every other Saturday working. On the flip side, I do want to save any extended weekdays off for any potential distance trips, much like I had just done with my recent SoCal trip.

It would be like jumping into an empty pool! I would like to see a Maverick clone here too, it would fit somewhere, or some other nice airtime coaster. But GS will hold me over until this- can't wait to ride it! After riding Xcelerator for the first time this past Wednesday, I'm sold on anything Intamin...Xcelerator had me hooked, couldn't leave the area and had to go back for more! But right now I think I should just focus on Gold Striker, if anything, it should give Apocalypse a good run for its money...and Apocalypse was a really good ride!

Running from Gold Striker to Grizzly will be like jumping into the pool after soaking in the hot tub.

I rode Riddler this past Sunday and it was running pretty smooth. When I rode it again this past Thursday it rattled and was significantly rougher. I'm guessing 1 train runs better than the other. Speaking of rattling B&Ms, Scream was pretty rough...I'll choose SFDK Medusa over Scream any day!

That I'm not sure about, since Cedar Fair just manages it, but I was able to use my CGA cup down at Knotts this past week.

Looking at one of the photos sent to me earlier by a fellow member who was at the park today (Robman), to me it looks much like how Wodan's track is filled in as you head towards the drop. Whether if the openings along the side of the tunnel has been sealed off, it's hard to tell.

Speaking of toilets and bathrooms...thinking of this thread as I head back to NorCal Los Baños? The Toilets?

^Hmm... *scratches head* that pic looks familiar Just had another Gold Striker reality check just now when thinking of my next CGA run (The things you do when riding through the middle of nowhere, I-5 on my way back home.)..realized May is just around the corner; even if it opens mid May. It will be ready before we know it!

Speaking of Yolo... I'm sure we all can see some more YOLOopage

I'm going to now throw in this: X2 in the evening as the sun sits over Viper, or any time in the mid to late afternoon. You are leaning and facing the sun. Nothing worse than having to shield your eyes...and if you got stuck on the lift...

Ugh...I got my Revolution credit and I'm leaving it at that. I loved the layout and the forces but the OTSR's really ruined the experience for me. I rode in the very last row and my head was being smashed at the bottoms of the drops. I was going to give it a second try today but in the end decided not to...I'll wait for the day when pigs fly and Rev gets new Gerstlauer trains that are lapbar only. Until then I have the credit and leaving it at that. Now Green Lantern, you're going to think I'm crazy but I actually liked it. Our car was not quite balanced (was looking/tilted downward going up the lift, had 1 rider on 1 side and 2 on the other) and had a pretty forceful ride. We dove head first several times and got a fast flip nearly doing a second flip arriving in the station. Riding tip: face south so when you hit the mcbr, you come at it backwards...no stomach punches from the restraint.

Just did SFMM today and ended the visit with an almost nonexistent line/walk on for X2. Crowds were light all day and the YOLOop is quite huge! Was completely different than my visit in Sunday! I went with my cousin and friends, having SFMM as part of the larger SoCal trip, which I have my SoCal trip report up over the course of the following week. I filled up a 32, 16, and 2 8 gb cards...lots of pics to sort through!

Honestly I'm just happy for a pov to watch especially having it available to us so soon! In the end we could have had nothing at all. The true HD experience will be when we ride it and see it through our own eyes Update: just watched the off ride stuff, the train really takes those turns fast! This is seriously going to be a nice quality ride! I can now say hello to some nice positives!

Wow, just amazing! I literally watched this after riding Apocalypse (several times actually) and I can totally feel this ride's motions that much more! That speed hill is going to be insane in the back seat, and there should be some good pops coming out of first turnaround and coming out of the prudential turn. I suspect a good floater/zero g moment before midway curve, a quick pop before diving under before final turn, and lastly a quick pop on that weird double up. Sitting in the front I think will be a little more milder. One tall I think this is going to be a very forceful ride, apocalypse had some nice positives especially with its 85 degree banking, and there should be some good laterals with the quick direction changes. Yes I'm excited! Now to watch this again!

Was going to say, Gold Rusher is at Magic Mountain, little Arrow mine train

I just rode Apocalypse at SFMM and could only think of Gold Striker. Apoc was a great ride and way better than Roar. I can now only be more juiced to ride Gold Striker!

We watched the pov on the big screen at our motel last night and definitely fuzzy but I can care less, I was just happy to see it up so quick! Good timing too as I had to shower myself off after watching The tunnel with the lights on and open below definitely doesn't do much but can be completely different once its done. Tunnels are fun as shown as riding Ghost Rider today ( sounded like the voices were saying Gold Striker in the station )

This is full of awesome! The ride actually looks more intense than the animation! I see several moments of butt-slappin' airtime! The pov gave me something to do while in line at Disney Seeing some complaints about that little double-up toward the end of the ride, being painful. Yea it seems strange but should produce a quick pop of air! And the Flyby...nice, sustained air! The airtime hump before midway curve feels like it will be more graceful yet fun! The tunnel: I can confirm its reasoning: it was an opportunity and not required. However the park did take noise in consideration and did it as a courtesy to their neighbors just to show that they care. I had spoke with some higher ups at the park on opening weekend. In the end its better to try and build a good relationship with your neighbors rather than become enemies.