Angry_Gumball

So, Gold Striker was running great today! Some MAJOR changes to the queue, to fix the graffiti problem. Lines were a weird mixed bag. Gold Striker held a solid hour wait all day and into the night. I got in 7 rides regardless of. Was funny though, after getting off the final ride at 10:30 (park is closed) some kids run and get back in line. Nobody was even blocking the entrance. Here's a mini update on what's going on around the park. Yup, the vibe of Haunt is now in the air! CGA is going into Haunt Mode! Zombie High work going on. A friendly reminder of when Haunt starts ... I hope you all got your final rides on RLD as it's now closed for the season. Yup, that lovely time of year before the dreaded off-season! Gold Striker update...notice anything? And Jack makes sure nobody...I mean NO BODY will be getting in line for it Notice anything new now? I like this...more air flow in the queue! ... However, (hard to see) somebody actually wrote on Gold Striker itself...ugh... Fireworks from Gold Striker And the new banner is up! And, kids only asking for trouble. Clearly they cared less of what the 2 signs say on the stage. Yup, vandalism is bad...too bad you vandalized just to get your message across, you hypocrite! Feels a lot more open now! Madame Marie's facade gone up now!

Yeah, it's insane. Today's update: http://www.coasterfriends.de/forum/4108-2014-neuheit-b-m-wing-coaster-heide-park-92.html#post119433 Gorgeous. This honestly looks like one of the best Wing Riders to date!

^ Hmmm...red ice...that would be pretty neat!

Granted I've only been on 3 GCI's, all in CA...I'd say that Gold Striker hands down is their best I've ridden. Apocalypse runs behind, and Roar West being the least favorite...sadly, it's in bad shape as well.

My best moments of airtime: Gold Striker - As said, it's not Intamin-airtime or long moments of airtime but this ride is packed with what I've counted up to 14 moments of varying degrees of airtime (depends on where you sit, I counted 14 in the last row). I didn't expect much to airtime to be had on a coaster that's based on a lot of steep banks and sharp turns...but GCI sure surprised me. In fact, I try to avoid keeping anything in my normal pockets riding this as they dig into my thighs (yes, it hurt) and/or get crushed. Instead, I put cargo pockets to use Superman Ultimate Flight, SFDK - Ejector airtime in CA...'nuff said! Though only 3 moments (2 strong/ejector moments coming up to the highest point and coming back down, and a strange floater moment in the non inverting loop). Superman does not look like much and does not seem like it would give you any airtime but my first ride I was completely surprised (and baffled at how they pulled off what they did in this strange coaster). Ghost Rider, Knott's - More focused on sustained airtime but the valleys and such give you a rather rough landing...reason why I hang on rather than keeping hands up. Lastly, Xcelerator at Knott's - Only 1 moment of airtime but at 205 feet up...I felt myself nearly standing up coming down when I rode in the front seat. It was a nice, sustained moment of airtime too! We can't forget the classics as well...Giant Dipper, when running faster/warmed up offers several moments of airtime. Maybe not as strong as Gold Striker but this was my go-to coaster when I was looking for airitme.

Definitely good news! My brother is actually at the 'Walk right now and witnessed it testing before me whether if he saw riders in it is beyond me, something he wouldn't pay attention to anything like that as he's a casual park goer.

CGA is no longer in daily operation so I imagine whatever was going on, assuming its maintenance, should be back this Saturday. CGA's last weekday operation was Monday this week...Saturday is the soonest we'll know (since I'll be heading out of the park Saturday). I'm surprised they go to weekends and Fridays only so soon, quite a few east coast parks still operate all week. Many schools actually started this week and last week. Not sure how school districts are in your location but schools in my area actually started today. It wouldn't make much sense for a park to open when kids are in school and the rest of us are at work.

CGA is no longer in daily operation so I imagine whatever was going on, assuming its maintenance, should be back this Saturday. CGA's last weekday operation was Monday this week...Saturday is the soonest we'll know (since I'll be heading out of the park Saturday).

I'm looking forward to checking out the new ice show, sounds like it can be pretty neat!

I enjoyed Silver Bullet and Ghost Rider at Knotts. Also call me crazy but I loved my first and only ride on SFMM's Green Lantern. We will see how my next experience is come WCB.

Thankfully, my SF gold pass gets us free parking at the Mountain...not sure if the Knott's Hotel charges for parking during our stay but if not, then no parking either (quick walk around the corner to park entrance)...otherwise, we'll just split the cost on it Can't wait, only 2.5 weeks to go!

Inverts, especially since we have 2 intense inverts in CA, and a runner up that's a little more floaty but I still get grey spots after the loop (being KBF Silver Bullet). It doesn't have the snap though like Flight Deck and Batman have. Runner up is the flying coaster as the restraints I found to be comfortable. I've only ridden 1 flyer so my experience on that is next to none. Least favorite is the stand up coaster as they're the least comfortable.

Yes, please! Looks like lines could move pretty quick as there's multiple cars out on the track. Seeing as this is SCBB (and not CF or SF) I can see speedy operations with this, and not just running 1 car at a time.

We attempted spinning a Dizzy Dragon (Basically the same ride) but we ended up causing the ride to self e-stop. The carny told us that we have to tone down the spinning as it was throwing the ride off balance and the ride will self shut off. Didn't help that it was sitting on mud. Recent funny (yet brutal) ride experience for me was riding Gold Striker about a month or so ago. Toward the end of the ride, TPR member Blue Fire Guy accidentally elbow punched me in the cheek (from having hands up). Earlier in the day, we (5 of us) rode the raft slide where heads were slamming into shoulders and noses were smashing into shoulders...Other moment consisted of relaxing in the lazy river when Blue Fire Guy attempts to flip me over as I floated along. Trying to keep balance, my flailing arms smacked him accidnetally. So yea...In short, the day's theme was "TPR members/friends beating each other up."

Flat rides, I found the Zamperla Energy Storm to be quite intense for the simple fact of being held upside down, spinning for a good 30 seconds or so. Gravitrons are also pretty intense...probably the most intense flat I've done though is the Chance Skydiver...and believe me, I made it an intense ride doing every possible maneuver. (One should try passing the bottom/loading area inverted...it's a head rush!) Coaster-wise, if we're talking about g-forces and intensity, I'd have to go with CGA's Flight Deck, 2nd half of SFMM's Goliath, and SFDK's SUF. For aggressiveness, Knott's Ghost Rider for sure. It's one I actually hang on as opposed to keeping hands up.

Not that I'd fully call it ghetto but SFMM in 2001. I enjoyed the park but we all had to really keep our eyes peeled (and avoid wearing anything that was red) as some of the locals didn't seem to take kindly to us. A member in our party did happen to wear primarily red and we were getting stared at by local thugs...not pleasant.

I've never been on the other B&M flyers, just Tatsu. Tatsu has its graceful moments and with its views it offers, I actually like the gracefulness it offers...for me, it gives me a chance to appreciate the views while 'soaring through the air.' When the dive loop comes up (only rode it n the last row on both times I rode it), I found it to actually be pretty intense! Pretty much on par with old school B&M intensity. My lips were being stretched and had I rode this on an empty stomach, I probably would have started greying out much like I do on CGA's Flight Deck.

I'm digging the layout, and the low airtime hill...curious how strong the airtime will be on this ride (B&M...strong airtime...*scratches head*).

Is it even cycling any empty trains?

Glad to hear the news!

One thing I forgot to mention in last night's write up: it sounded like Gold Striker was running a little dry, was making these bat screeching noises starting at midway turn all up until the brake run. It was a different sounding screech from what I heard during promo shoot or even the screeching Tonerre De Zeus at Park Asterix does now. It still hauled but the sounds were cringe-worthy, like nails on a chalkboard.

Trying from iPhone again, had hiccup where after selecting photos it showed that 'no photos added' in CGA thread, park update I was working on. Lets try here. Update, seems to work. I didn't see any indicator when trying to do it in the CGA thread and ended up copying the images to my computer, batch resizing them, and using the desktop multi uploader (which worked beautifully). I like how it shows the percentage/progress of uploading. Since this was my first time using it for an actual update, I figured I'd throw in my .02 on its functionality. This seriously made it a breeze getting my update posted...from how much quicker it is overall to the captioning process (I love the thumbnail preview images). Shoot, even the upload speeds seem to be quicker. I'll be honest here. As of lately, I've felt lazy when it came to uploading as it was starting to feel a bit cumbersome doing 1 image at a time...also had to sort my 'keeper photos' and move them to a separate folder so I knew what I was uploading. On top of that I had to remember which one I uploaded and hope I didn't repeat or forget any images (which I've done both). Now I can hand pick the ones I want while uploading...and not forget/duplicate anything! So yea, there's my mini review on my first time using this out in the 'real world' (outside of this forum).

Back from another awesome visit! I didn't quite get there at opening but still got a lot done regardless. When I had gotten there, the line for Gold Striker spilled out toward Star Tower...not good if I want to get my rides in on GS... Ended up riding Demon first (which was not that bad!), then over to Drop Tower (No lines!), and though I didn't ride, our lovely turd Grizzly had shorter lines for Gold Striker. The park was pretty much almost dead, and should be even quieter next weekend. After lunch, we caught the last showing of Happiness is Snoopy...which is now officially retired, to be replaced. Finally, Gold Striker's lines shortened to not even using any switchbacks, which remained that way for the remainder of the day. Ended up playing "Spin the Wheel" again as much as I told myself that I'm not...ended up winning a BOGO on ride photo, BOGO Xtreme Skyflyer, and a couple front of line passes. After riding GS we used the FOTL pass for a re-ride. All day, we either got stuck with the very front/first 2 rows, or the last 2 rows. I will absolutely not argue that! Lastly, we caught the last show for the season of On Broadway, which was probably my favorite production show I've seen in the park. I've seen it 3 times and would watch it again. Today, it took on more of a humorous tone as the crew was just flat out having fun! Now for some random photos. Starting off with what's an awesome promotion for their new Haunt maze... Old-school school desk could only mean childhood flashbacks of classroom games...Heads Up 7 Up anyone? Gold Striker's queue has taken on a darker shade of paint...it's peeling like a shedding reptile but there is far less graffiti in the queue. Tunnel is dark too! Now, one request...we need ventilation/fan to circulate the air in this thing...it's like a sauna in here! Ok, so there is still some graffiti but it's not as much of an eyesore. Was funny, somebody wrote their Insta-garbage on the fence with ball point pen...I ended up splashing my leftover water on it and wiped it right off. Yup, g-bye stupid graffiti! I like the dark tunnel! More mine shafty! Somebody was hitting their 100th today so I let them borrow my sign Happy 100! Yup, it's dead back here! One of the last showings of On Broadway. I'd say get out there and watch it but, show's done for the season. And...you don't see these laying around in the park every day, do you? I turned it into the Xtreme Skyflyer crew (as I didn't want to see GP taking it and doing stupid things). They were puzzled as well as I was Ready for flight (this is what..my 3rd time flying this season? ... Why do they still have this? And I conclude the visit with yet another onride photo...seriously, I have enough onride photos now. If only Grizzly did onride photos... I should actually be doing this now.

What I am glad about though is that the bulk of people that saw this were enthusiasts who realize that this was fake...you know the GP would think its real and begin sharing it among their GP friends. At least now with the flood of comments stating the fake/pointing out the obvious...and the original user has already made an idiot of himself so much that he's lost all credibility... In the end, we 'crashed' his video before it could go viral

My next unpleasant experience had to have been riding Kong last weekend at SFDK. I came off with red ears and a headache. We were crazy enough to take the last row as I know I've had a smooth ride on this SLC but not that day. It had a few smooth spots and as soon as you realized/enjoyed it, the ride went to roughness. Probably the worst jolt was coming out of the sidewinder, and that final turn into the station. The braking on this is hard too...feels like you're hitting into a cement wall.