Arthur_Seaton

Many of the queues seemed inconsistent overall, but the usual big-hitters were all pulling solid waits when we passed by. The park itself didn't feel overly busy, but the lines were pretty bad for much of the night, clearing out a little by 8pm-ish. Goliath can be deceptive, and going up the Lex Luthor tower, we saw that the station was somewhat empty so we hauled ass over there only to find that they now have a grouper who was intentionally keeping the line outside of the station. But when we passed it by earlier, the queue looked insane. Similarly, when we rode Apocalypse, we asked the employee at the entrance what the line was like and he told us it was between 45 mins and an hour, yet there was nobody in the station and the trains were running half-empty. Even Batman was listed as an hour, with the queue spilling out of the station building. The pattern these days, it seems, is that there is no pattern. This was surprising and, frankly, quite dangerous. We thought it must have been a power outage as the Samurai Summit area was pitch black — like Halloween-style darkness. People were using their phones just to illuminate the path in front of them to keep from falling, and we were surprised the park didn't cordon that area off until the problem was fixed. If cutting those lights was intentional, the park is inviting trouble.

It's just a few sections really, and that does feel a little disarming while there. Obviously the place is too big to deck out completely, but it's the area by Batman / Twisted Colossus, the entry plaza, and the area up by Tatsu that saw the most attention. There are bits and pieces scattered elsewhere (like in front of Revolution), but all the pictures you see are basically from those areas. It occurred to me that the pictures probably make it looks like the park went nuts with the lights, but that's not the case; there are entire sections of the park that have nothing at all, decoration-wise. In fact, when we were there last night, the regular lights up by Ninja / Superman had gone out entirely and people were using their cell phone flashes to keep from falling down the hill.

Hoping it would be dead, we took a drive up to SFMM to check out this year’s holiday decorations. It was actually quite busy with several queues hitting 90 mins. The app was as worthless as ever though, as a 70-min wait for riddler was actually a walk-on whereas Goliath’s 35-min wait was way, way out in the switchbacks. A number of the rides has incorrect times listed outside too, so perhaps queue estimates is something that SFMM just can't quite handle at this point. Anyhow, we managed to do several laps of the park (the place is actually good exercise if you go there with exercise in mind) and ride a good handful of rides. The Steampunk area and the area in front of Tatsu’s entrance seemed to get the most attention in terms of lighting and performers. Neither were anything we haven’t seen before at Six Flags but certainly added some charm. The area by Batman was a bit of a mess, though. It’s that same LED dome thing they do every year and that’s about it. This year, it was basically set to “blue” with an occasional program blasting through it, but next to the superior Screampunk area, it came off as drab. The area in front of Fūll Thrōttle didn’t have much of anything going on, which we assumed was space set aside for the usual live entertainment. The entrance area was a tad gaudy and bright, and we felt they could have maybe done something a little more tailored there. The various fire pits scattered around the park for toasting marshmallows was a nice touch, but it’s just a matter of time before someone burns themselves while trying to tag one of them. We didn’t watch any of the shows (allergic to musical theatre) or eat any of the food (similarly allergic), but the latter was drawing the crowds whereas the former really wasn’t. Hopefully the park is making a killing from the food they sell as I can’t imagine they move too many regular entry tickets these days given that they’re basically giving season passes away. Flash Pass is the new entry price, it seems. Rode Viper twice (suspiciously smooth, even in the non-good seats), Apocalypse once (brutal — the re-tracked part is as bad as ever), Riddler once (usually skip it, but single-rider called our names), Goliath once (caught it right after a breakdown, otherwise the line was insane all night), Lex Luthor once (usually skip it due to anxiety but wanted to take in the view), Ninja once (same old, same all), Scream once (fairly smooth tonight), Tatsu once (pretzel was extra crunchy). The last time we rode Riddler, it was really rough. Tonight wasn’t rough at all, but I was reminded of how dull a ride it really is. It looks great from the outside, and it does have some nice elements, but it’s the epitome of B&M meandering forcelessness. Having said that, I wouldn’t want them to transform it as it would be even more dull as a sit-down. At least the gimmick isn’t too painful on this one. Batman (!!!), Twisted Colossus, Fūll Thrōttle, and Superman all had pretty ugly lines, so we opted out of those. Revolution was doing some new VR thing, and the line was rumored to be around 120 mins. Although they had two trains, they were only using about half the seats on each and dispatches were pitiful. Revolution is dead to me until this hideous VR nonsense goes away for good. Anyhow, here are a few pics of the lights and whatnot to build on what’s already been posted by others. Pardon the iPhone quality: Some gaudy-ass lights in this part. A popular photo op spot. The steampunk area looked pretty good overall though. The props were a nice touch, but looked better from a distance. They were a little too obviously spray-painted. They did a nice job working the original fixtures in. The space itself is a bit wide, though. More steampunk figures. Well, the same ones from different angles. Entrance plaza The snow machines were hit or miss. At times, there was nothing; at other times, an avalanche. This whole area stood out in terms of lights, though. Still getting used to the "depth mode" effect on the iPhone. Decent performers in the SP district, too. While scenic, this pathway would benefit from a little more attention. But the area it leads to looked great. And delicious. This, however, was bland. It was set to "blue" for much of the night . . . . . . with the occasional show. But next to this area, the LED dome looked a bit crap.

We visited Universal last night for the finale of Halloween Horror Nights. We'd avoided it all season and had read reports that the days following Halloween were usually more quiet. Perhaps it was because it was a Saturday night, but the place was still packed with average waits for mazes clocking in between 90 and 120 minutes. Fortunately, with some strategy and a bit of luck, we were able to go through all the mazes, ride Harry Potter, the little Harry Potter coaster, and Transformers in just under 6 hours. The longest line we waited in was for The Exorcist (80 mins), but when we arrived at the entrance, we were handed a front-of-line pass (at random, it seems?) that we then used for American Horror Story that was also clocking in at around 100+ mins for much of the night. They were pulsing the mazes rather than letting a steady stream of people go through — which made for better maze experiences, but made the lines super sluggish. Also, front of line passes were everywhere, and managing the congestion of those lines (some of which were quite long) with regular lines was a bit messy. As always, the park looked great and the scream actors were uniformly excellent. They're really top notch at getting right in your face while never touching you and many seem positively acrobatic in their movement. Anyhow, the mazes, from best to worst: The Exorcist: Our expectations for this were low, and we weren't sure how Universal would be able to develop a maze from a film with such limited scenery and monsters. It was excellent. One of very few mazes I've ever walked through where I was aware of my increased heart rate. I actually found myself hoping it would end sooner than later, and that's never happened to me before before in a maze like this — the scares were almost too much. The conceit of the maze was simple but remarkably effective: much of it was pitch black (aside from three or four creative takes on the bedroom scenes and a few others), punctuated by a surprising amount of highly intense jump scares. Even though we knew they were coming, the jump scares got us every time. The lighting effects throughout were simple (lots of the subliminal face from the film) but all looked fantastic. It struck the perfect balance between really creepy and straight-up terrifying. One of the most effective haunt mazes I've experienced at any park. 10/10 The Exorcist was far, far better than expected. Best maze of the night. Halloween: Last year's Halloween didn't do much for us, and we waited a dreary 60 minutes to get in it. This year was much improved with almost every scene from the previous maze completely transformed. The sets were extremely immersive with lots of trick scares throughout (such as the scene where Michael Myers is slightly visible behind a shower curtain so you'll know he'll jump out as you approach, but a different Myers springs out at you from another part of the room instead). The maze incorporated key scenes from all three Halloween movies, ending with the bizarre series-busting Halloween III and a great final scare right at the exit that was very in-your-face. One of the best mazes of the night, and leagues better than the previous version. 9/10 Texas Chainsaw: We feared that this would be little more than chainsaws and carcasses, but it was far more immersive. While there were plenty of great jump scares throughout, it was the scenery and characters that made this one work. While not nearly as scary as The Exorcist, it was a great balance between elaborate set design, humor, and overall creepiness. 9/10 Freddy Vs. Jason: I'm not sure who watches these kind of films, and the film's conceit suggests that Hollywood has been out of ideas for some time now. The maze, despite the illogicality of Freddy Krueger chumming it up with Jason Voorhees, itself was a lot of fun. What made it work was that it was quite compact with small hallways giving you little room to escape the various blades and weapons flying toward your face. Plenty of cool tricks inside such as vanishing walls, blinding light tunnels, and tons of great jumps throughout. 9/10 Freddy vs. Jason. Terrible concept, but a fun maze throughout. Krampus: Low expectations for this one too, but it was also much better than expected. Lots of sets look like they were on loan from past mazes (Crimson Peak and Aliens), but overall, it was a good balance of cute-ish satire and terror. Some fantastic scares throughout, and excellent set immersion with strong environmental effects. 8/10 Krampus took some of the great set design of Crimson Peak but added scares. American Horror Story: While the above mazes were all exceptional, a couple saw a pretty severe drop off. This maze is huge, and as the result, much of it feels too open. There was a lot of dead space in this one with entire rooms devoid of props or characters, and not enough action to carry it off throughout. The gimmicky-but-effective light trigger / sound effect used by scare actors in the other mazes was largely absent here, and so AHS was little more than relatively human-looking people just opening doors as you walked by. There was also a mini scare zone inside which took up a huge amount of room (a circus-type space) and all the scare actors were clearly visible before entering. Aside from some creative designs (the art deco hotel was kind of cool), American Horror story was all bark and no bite. It looked good, but it was let down by the shoddy design and general incoherency. We were fortunate to use a front-of-line pass for this one as we would have been disappointed if we'd waited two hours for it. 4/10 Terror Tram: This wasn't very good last year, but this year was utter garbage (consistent with Eli Roth's meagre contributions to horror I guess). The only redeeming factor was that some of the static props in the second part looked good. Hackneyed concept (creepy clowns, yawn) with almost no maze design to speak of and completely uninspired scare actors. To be honest, this felt about on par with a cheap, makeshift neighborhood haunted house. A pox on the terror tram. 2/10 Scare Zones, compared to other parks, are smaller and less intense, but the scare actors are exceptional at what they do. It’s amazing how close they get to whacking you in the face, and many of their moves border on choreography. More than one attacker approached with an elaborate series of spins and turns before stopping inches from your face. Although many of the narratives are a bit lost on me (I do like the horror genre very much, but tend not to watch the kind that Universal seems to produce), there’s no question that Universal is the reigning champ of haunts in the LA area. It’s a shame the place gets so insanely crowded, and there’s really not much they can do to help people experience more of the park (I assume many leave frustrated), but its understandable given the overall quality of the haunt. A great way to wrap up the season, and having visited SFMM, Knott's, and now Universal, I can safely say that Universal came out on top once more. Knott's was solid this year, and SFMM was as atrocious as always, but Universal continues to raise the bar.

Made it to Haunt last night — much later in the season than normal for us. Although it was still busier than we’d hoped, the crowd patterns were predictable in some ways. Knowing that operations are slow, we knocked out Ghost Rider first as members of our group hadn’t ridden the revamp. Lots of people waiting at the gate rushed to it at opening, and by the time we got to the entrance (7:05), the line was at 60 mins. It averaged between 60 and 120 mins for the rest of the night. Aside from that, the park was running all rides at maximum capacity (including two trains on Xcelerator). We were there for the mazes primarily, but did get to ride La Revolucion, Timber Mountain, and Calico Mine Train — the latter of which had no line whatsoever. Lines for mazes varied with Paranormal Activity, Shadowlands, and Infected all clocking in between 45 and 60 mins. Attendance dropped noticeably around 10pm and a number of mazes were walk-ons for the remainder of the night (Red Barn, Gunslingers, Trick or Treat, Voodoo, Tooth Fairy). We were able to get through all of them, and oddly enough, Gunslingers was the popular favorite this time around. Despite what appeared to be staffing problems in some of the mazes, the park worked with what they had by making sure that scare zones were all well-staffed and the newer mazes loaded with monsters. Some of the older mazes were neglected a bit as the result leaving a surprising amount of dead zones, but apparently it’s the norm in this industry for staff to fall off around the day of Halloween. Paranormal Inc. — Still one of the park’s creepiest and most effective mazes. The line was deceptive as instead of queuing just in front, it also snaked all the way down the side to Tooth Fairy and back. The delay is largely due to the opening scene, but they were cranking people through that room really effectively. It felt a little rushed, but understandably so. Compared to last year’s version, the scare actors had been dramatically reduced and there were several extended scenes with no monsters at all as well as a number of mechanical effects that didn't seem to be working. Although this did make the maze feel a little neglected, it’s still one of the best around in terms of atmospherics and design. 8/10 Shadowlands — The sets are elaborate and quite impressive, and this was fairly well populated with scare actors, but the experience itself was flawed. Although they tried to stagger entry to prevent traffic congestion inside, it didn’t work and so much of the maze felt like we were standing in a queue. Of course this ruined many of the gags as you could see them well in advance, and there were as many security guards roaming around trying to control the crowds as there were scare actors trying to scare them. It’s highly stylized and contains lots of references to Japanese horror, but without a better system of crowd management, much of that was wasted. 7/10 Red Barn — This was one of the most effective mazes overall with some fantastic lighting effects throughout. Having to crawl through cages, and climbing gradually elevating floors that pushed you up into the ceiling were a nice touch. This was well populated by scare actors, and the pacing was much better than Shadowlands, so it was more effective overall. Much of the layout and some of the effects were clearly borrowed from past mazes, but it all worked well together. 9/10 Infected — We weren’t sure how this would translate to a smaller space but it made far more sense. This is what Fright Fest’s Aftermath wishes it could be and it was very well done throughout. The sets and costumes were excellent (they clearly had some of the same effects that Universal used in The Walking Dead such as the TV screens). Although staffing problems resulted in our group just wandering through unguided, it was still a little rushed and there were so many details that we wished we could have gotten a better look at. Although it felt short — especially compared to last years’ — we found it to be far more effective overall. 9/10 Gunslingers — Same old, same all, but a solid maze all the same. The sets were pretty elaborate with a number of great, dingy walkways. The maze was really well populated with scare actors working in teams which made for a great overall experience. There’s nothing new in there from what we could gather, but it was, surprisingly, one of the better mazes of the night. 9/10 Tooth Fairy — Still an old favorite and one of the most disgusting concepts ever, but this one suffered most from staffing problems. Large stretches of the maze were completely devoid of scare actors, and the few that were there seemed to congregate and chat with each other. Like Paranormal, it’s one of the most effective designs overall, but I fear it’s run its course at this point. It needs a shot of something other than novocaine to give it a new kick. 7/10 Trick or Treat — This one’s becoming more and more of a pastiche of past mazes. The sets are consistently excellent, but the scare actors lacked a unified style — clowns, (sloppy) ghosts, witches, whiny kids, and a number of those Doctor Schnabel masks from the old Poe-themed maze all created a bit of a confusing mess. For as elaborate as the decor is, this one just feels tired now. 6/10 Dead of Winter — Despite improvement, this is still the worst maze in the park. Thankfully they’ve dimmed the lights from last year, and some of the early rooms looked more developed, but it’s still a bit of a sloppy concept. Several of the effects look really cheap (the TV under floor for example), whereas others are fairly effective (the lunging spider). Despite valiant efforts, this one just isn’t in the same league as anything else at the park. 5/10 Voodoo — The sets are as beautiful as ever, but this one suffered the worst from staffing problems. The warehouse was largely empty, and several of the old scare points were totally unmanned (the bungee scene at the beginning for example). Although there was one excellent scare that was new this time around, the few monsters inside were clearly feeling the effects of having to work alone and just weren’t into it. It’s a shame that mazes like this suffer when inadequately staffed, but it does make sense to ensure that other parts of the park are well-stocked with actors as the set of this one can at least compensate to a degree. Always worth a visit, but it could use a recharge as well. 7/10 Knotts is still at the top of its game in terms of haunts, and they manage to push the envelope every year without falling back on some of the recent eye-rolly wave of extreme / sadistic / fish guts stuff that’s popular at off-site haunts; they do what they’ve done for years, and they do it better than most. Having said that, if I were to vote for edits, Dead of Winter is a write-off, Shadowlands could use some rethinking, and several others are showing their age (Tooth Fairy, Voodoo, Trick or Treat). We didn’t try the Skeleton Key rooms because of the up-charge, but they all had fairly severe lines — which I can’t imagine would go over well with those who paid for front-of-line experiences. However. with mazes like Red Barn and Infected, Knotts proves that they can consistently develop new approaches to keep things fresh. Although there must be valid reasons as to why the park stopped turning Timber Mountain and the Calico Mine Ride into scares, they’re both sorely missed. The scare zones were as solid as ever, and the whole fogged-out Ghost Town area is the standard to which all other scare zones are held. Overall, the place was still a little too crowded to be easily enjoyed, but it was more manageable this year than last.

Ha! yeah, it's kind of ugly. It's a tight space, and I would assume that the most logical placement for that over-the-track support would have been smack in the middle of the walkway which is already kind of cramped. I think it depends on the angle that you're approaching it from as well. Walkway view

I bought the Platinum Pass earlier in the year once I learned I'd also be visiting Cedar Point and Kings Island while on a work trip and I've visited Knotts enough times to make it more than worth the price. You do need to take a picture, but you can submit a picture online — in fact, that's the best way to do it. Once the picture is uploaded, it's the same process as SFMM — you scan your receipt at the parking lot and do the same at the front gate where they'll give you the pass. Prior to this year, I'd only visited Knotts for Halloween so the pass was a great opportunity to spend some time getting caught up there.

Made a quick trip to Knott's today to take advantage of off-season slow days and make the most of my dwindling 2016 pass. As predicted, the place was dead and everything was a walk-on except Ghost Rider (which was running only one train) and Sierra Sidewinder (which was only running part of one of the two trains on the track). Even though only two of the Ghost Rider station switchbacks were filled, it still took a good 30 minutes to get on. Dispatches were between 8 and 10 mins due to ride length, that bizarre multiple braking system, and ops / GP not quite being on their game. Sierra Sidewinder kept cycling one completely empty train and the ops were struggling to board people on the other one. Everything else was a walk-on and business as usual. Between 2pm and 4pm, I rode Ghost Rider once (still smooth; still a bit neutered), Silver Bullet twice (train was rattling like crazy), Supreme Scream twice (tame but always fun), La Revolucion twice (a ride I've seriously overlooked in the past), Montezooma twice (just in case they kill it), Xcelerator three times (because the station was completely empty), Coast Rider once (totally sluggish — was this ever any good?), and Sierra Sidewinder once (barely spun, thank dog). After that, I spent a couple of hours testing out a new camera trying to catch some high-speed shots — which I failed at miserably. It's a new camera system (switched from an older DSLR to a high-speed focus mirrorless), so I've got some learning to do, but it was fun to practice on a quiet day and only feel like a partial creeper (I wish I had an invisibility cloak). Anyhow, here are a handful of the pics: I know I'm in the minority, but this is still my favorite B&M invert. A little rattly today though. Didn't ride, but it's photogenic one. Still my favorite of all the Accelerators that I've ridden. Intense yet smooth from the start. Still a great coaster which hopefully will be around for some time. The best part of Silver Bullet? The most photogenic part of Silver Bullet? One of the few spots you can see Ghost Rider flying over a hill. This was a zoom lens from the parking lot. A few attempts as splash shots. Which didn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped. So, better luck next time. More Xcelerator. And Xcelerator from the Sky Cabin. The filthy windows act as a filter. I usually hate spinning rides, but I love this. Even prefer it to Giant Frisbees as it feels more forceful. Coming out of one of SB's surprisingly forceful moves. You could probably walk faster than the speed Jaguar takes this hill.

I suspect that for many of us who are locals to one of the other, we can take what we have for granted a bit; I can certainly see how someone who has never visited SFMM could (and should) be excited about doing so. With that said, CP would win out for me, both in terms of rides and general park experience. Don't get me wrong, both have their fair share of meh rides, but for me there are really only a handful of rides at SFMM that I bother getting on when I visit (depending on what kind of state rides like Apocalypse and Scream are in). So, for me, it's more about how many rides would I voluntarily skip — SFMM ekes out CP in that category, even though CP has a number that I wasn't particularly into. At CP, I'd rank Valravn, MF, Maverick, Skyhawk, and TTD as excellent with Gatekeeper and Gemini as very good. At SFMM, I'd rank Full Throttle, TC, Goliath as excellent with Ninja, Scream, Lex, and Apocalyspe (depending on its state) as very good. Of course X2 and Tatsu are must-rides at least once but I'm personally not a fan of either one.

I haven't ridden that many either and, like a few others here, inverts aren't really my thing. The only one I really enjoy is Silver Bullet, but out of what I've ridden, the list would go something like: 1. Silver Bullet (best pacing overall) 2. Great Bear (great pre-drop spin but lame second half) 3. Batman (they're really all the same — more disorienting than fun) 4. Raptor (kind of dull but the second half was better than the first) 5. Banshee (like flipping through a catalogue of B&M's inversions, slowly)

Traditionally, Halloween is very slow, but it was totally packed last year. I think Jew hit it on the head, the pass holders are a wild card that makes crowd prediction very difficult. Being on a Monday this year may help thin the herd out a bit. Thanks for the tips, all. Yeah, we went last year and it was a busy night for sure. We were still able to do almost all of the mazes, but the crowd patterns established in past years seem to be somewhat obsolete now. Hoping to make it down there at some point, but we'll see how it goes.

Took a trip out to Universal today with friends and family — still hoping to hit the Halloween event another time, and this was a trip to check out some of the newer attractions since the last time we were there. We expected it to be a fairly slow day but the place was slammed for the first few hours. The park extended their hours twice, and by 5pm the place had cleared out a little. Almost all of the rides were listed as about 60-80 min waits, but only Harry Potter actually took that amount of time. The main reason we went was to check out the Harry Potter ride. Not much to add to the praise that it gets: it's impressive on pretty much every level. We rode twice — once around 12pm and then again around 7pm, and although the queue length was about the same, the queue moved dramatically faster the second time through for some reason. The first time had lines forming just to get löckers, and the whole building was incredibly congested. I don't know anything about Harry Potter so many of the details and ride's narrative were lost on me (I really had no idea what was happening either time we rode), but I loved checking out the ride mechanism itself. The movement was a little more intense than I had anticipated, and it was fun to try and trace the maneuvers the ride carriages were making. At one point, when traveling under a large tree, I swear the ride tipped up beyond the 90-degree mark. At other points, especially when facing various ghouls, I got the sense that the arm was making some fairly fast flips back and forth from one side of the track to the other. The nerd in me would be genuinely interested in seeing the arm in motion from behind the scenes. Anyhow, it's a great ride with beautiful presentation. The Walking Dead was a bit of a letdown, but I'm not entirely sure I can say why. It did feel short — like less of a maze and more like four or five scenes strung together. Maybe I just prefer traditional haunted mazes, but I swear that Universal's old haunted house walkthrough was much longer than this. The sets and effects were nicely done — many lifted from last years' haunt — but something about it didn't feel quite right. It was a once-and-done kind of experience for me, and I'm usually down to go through mazes multiple times to catch every detail. Anyhow, the place was miserable for the first few hours because of insane crowds — and we only got on three attractions in four hours. It cleared up a bit after that and we were able to get on most of what we wanted, but a busy day for SoCal parks it seems! Still hoping to make it to the halloween event this year despite some tepid reviews so far.

I was at Universal today and it was indeed nuts. I think the park was slated to close at 6pm originally, but then they changed it to 7:30 and then 8:30. Had no idea today would such a chaotic theme park day!

Yeah, that really does seem to be the case, doesn't it? Seems like a good move for the park as slow days are clearly not good days for them. I was hoping to check out both Knotts and Universal this year but without splurging on front-of-line passes, I suspect it'll be too much of a headache.

Curious to see if anyone's experienced a "slow" day at Haunt yet? I'm glad they're pulling some huge crowds, but I'm hoping to visit on a bit more of a dead night. Aiming for a Thursday or a Sunday I guess.

It's based, at least in part, on social issues like drug addiction and abortion and whatnot. There's a whole genre of fundamentalist haunted houses called "hell houses" that do something similar only this one adds in physical harm and humiliation. There's a report (and image) online of a guest leaving with torn clothes and gashes in their back followed by a profuse apology from the business itself. Definitely a more extreme experience by the sounds of it!

They reportedly did the same thing last year. I guess they either use a fish carcass or offal of some kind and smear it on your face / clothes / hair. It's one of the reasons we didn't bother checking this place out last year. The whole endeavor looks like its geared more toward torture porn / sadism-style horror.

Yeah, we were surprised by this as well. Our guess is that they couldn't get enough staff to fully populate them, so hopefully that'll change in the coming weeks. A couple of scare zones were little more than a fog machine behind a plant. Another surprise. We rode it twice tonight, and the first time was tolerable, but the second ride was like "yep, it's Apocalypse again!" There are definitely sections of track that need work, but one of the trains definitely had its square wheels on again too. Also, I don't know what's up with the lap bar, but the same happened to us tonight. We got stapled by the ops on both rides.

Took a trip to Six Flags tonight to check out the halloween event. Clearly they’re still in rehearsal mode so returning later in the season will be a must once they’ve found their groove a little more. The best thing about this event is the value for money. If you’re a pass holder (and I assume at least 90% of Los Angeles is at this point), it’s only $15 to do the mazes. $30 will get you a front-of-the-line pass — still a great deal, although unnecessary tonight. (We actually did see a lot of “express” wrist bands, but they clearly weren’t needed.) The mazes are the exact same as the past couple of years, only Red’s Revenge somehow felt shorter, Vault 666 had a few new effects, and Asylum is longer. There were only a handful of scare zones this year, and a couple were totally devoid of monsters (we figured the park is still in the process of hiring people). Zombie Crossing had no zombies whatsoever, but a security guard yelled “boo” a couple of times and cracked a few jokes, and Suicide Squad just appeared to be a series of unmanned prop-vehicles that both kids and adults were climbing on. There was a cage-like device by the entrance to Batman that remained empty, a projection of flames onto a 2D building, and two guys lurking around in Toxic Avenger-style masks. The only scare zones that seemed staffed and functional was the day-glo area beneath Revolution and the area up by Ninja. Lots of work to do in this department still, it seems. Nothing really new to report on the mazes. Toyz of Terror is still the standout because of the bizarre disorienting effect. Asylum was very much like the last version only now broken into smaller sections. Our first time through was enjoyable, seeing all the sets and whatnot. The scare actors gave it a far more humorous edge, largely because their boos came off more like bleats. We decided to go through it again later hoping that the talent had warmed up a bit, only on the second run through there were fewer actors. After leaving the maze, we noticed a bunch of them hanging out outside the maze and chatting with each other. Willoughby’s has potential and is well populated with actors who synchronize their scares nicely, but it was empty when we walked through and it seemed like the monsters were waiting for larger crowds to show up. We felt a little bad that they couldn’t elicit scares from us given how many of them there are inside. The garden maze was the same as the last few years, but it’s still an effective maze overall — even if there’s not much to it beyond camouflage netting and foliage suits. Chupacabra is the same as always — smoky and confusing The parking lot was insanely crowded when we arrived around 4pm. The park didn’t feel busy, but the rides all had long lines for much of the evening. The wait times thing on the app is absolutely arbitrary now, and so we gauged wait times visually. Rode Viper three times in the “special seat” (no line) — big difference in ride quality, but ultimately it’s still Viper. First drop rocks — the rest, not so much. Rode Apocalypse twice. First ride was moderate, but our second ride later in the day was considerably more rough. You can clearly see the re-tracked areas by the color of the rails, and in some parts it appears that they only re-tracked one side, so clearly it was a maintenance necessity. The rise up into the station is really jacked up at this point, but the rest of the ride is an improvement (although I’d still file it as rough compared to what it once was). Twisted Colossus’ line was moving very slow, partly due to egregious line-jumping, but mainly because of the usual problem of riders bringing all kinds of stuff on with them. Saw three separate walks-of-shame just while standing at the station gates, all of which delayed dispatch despite the ops’ best efforts. Made a couple attempts at getting on Revolution, but it’s a lost cause while VR is around. Hour wait from the arch at the bottom of the ramp; trains dispatching every 8-10 minutes with 25% of the seats left completely empty. As much as I’d like to support innovation, part of me hopes this whole VR coaster business will be removed soon. They’ve restored a classic and yet you can’t get on it because of a defective gimmick. Bah humbug, etc. Anyhow, a fun night overall. We were done with all the mazes within the first hour, so we spent the rest of the night on rides and looking for the scare zones. The great thing about this event is that it’s a killer deal — $15 for pass holders is unbeatable for the amount of mazes, shows, and effects. The worst thing about this event is that you get what you pay for. While there are some genuinely cool parts, it’s not even close to the same level as other area haunts, both pro and amateur. A serious overhaul and a larger investment (even if it’s sponsored to hell and back) would help to bring things up a notch, but as the season progresses and the crowds fill out a bit more, hopefully the event will pick up the pace a little.

Not really, but it's sort of on the way there. The quickest path to Superman is to take the funicular railway next to the fountain, but heading left toward X2 and Viper, following the path under Revolution, going up the stairs behind Tatsu will get you there. It's probably the hardest ride in the park to get to.

Crowd patterns at SFMM have been erratic as of late, so it's hard to give strategy suggestions without knowing the state of the park that day. It also depends on what interests you the most. For example, heading straight to New Revolution and knocking it out early would be wise because the operations have been murdered by the new cell phone gimmick, but it's just not a very good ride if you're riding with the VR. So, it all depends on preference. With that said, Füll Throttle, Tatsu, Superman, New Revolution, and Goliath tend to get the longest lines. Apocalypse and Ninja can be long waits if they're only running a single train. X2 is all over the place — sometimes it's a walk-on, and other times there's a wait. The rides toward the back of the park (Batman, Riddler etc.) don't get quite as busy so working your way over to them would be smart. Twisted Colossus' line usually move pretty fast because it's well run, so it's less of a concern. If it's looking to be a busy day, I'd plan on getting there before opening and do something like this: Füll Throttle --> Goliath --> Twisted Colossus --> Scream --> Lex Luthor --> Batman / Riddler / Gold Rusher --> Apocalypse --> Superman --> Ninja --> Tatsu --> Viper --> X2 --> Revolution OR New Revolution --> Tatsu --> Superman --> Ninja --> Apocalypse --> Riddler / Batman / Gold Rusher --> Twisted Colossus / Scream --> Lex Luthor --> Goliath --> Füll Throttle -- X2 --> Viper I'd be cautious about riding X2 or Viper too early as both with beat you up pretty bad and X2 is known for dishing out nasty headaches that can put a damper on the rest of the day. Good luck with your planning! Probably because I'm local and have ridden all of these rides too many times, but the only rides I focus on getting on these days are Goliath / Füll Throttle / Twisted Colossus / Apocalypse / Ninja — the rest are all relatively skippable to me.

I rode Mean Streak a couple of months ago for the first time and was surprised by how much I didn't hate it. I didn't love it by any stretch, but given the ire it generates, it surprised me. With that said, its strengths were its length and the monumental design of the structure itself. If it is indeed RMC working on it, part of me hopes that they aim for more of an extended twister design that retains much of the structure and uses it for head choppers etc. Given the breakneck pacing of RMC coasters, I'd personally rather see a version of Mean Streak that's even longer than the original rather than a design filled with extreme ejector air or RMC's usual elements. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I would be genuinely interested to see what RMC could do with more focus on floater air and a greater emphasis on protracted pacing. Anyhow, looking forward to seeing what'll come of all this.

I agree; I was there a few weeks ago and found the same to be true. I was indifferent to the post-rehab version, but the night rides made it feel a more like the old relentless Ghost Rider but without the pain. Back seat's indeed a blast, but I must say that I found the front to provide some nice launches over the first camel back, the hill after "the drop," and the two smaller bunny hops on the return leg.

Oh, I loved that about it. I know I'm in the minority, the older and cheesier the better IMO. I'm a huge fan of old pretzel rides and tricks, and so the old ghost train was one of my favorites. The new one looks cool and is great for the crowds, but it doesn't have the same appeal for me. And I'm sad to see that the whole building is coming down, but hopefully the new version will be great too. I hope someone takes pictures of the inside before it'd demolished as there's quite a history to that place.

Never underestimate the GP. They'd probably put all their junk in the löcker and then try to drag the löcker system onto the ride with them. While station ops were good -- on TC at least -- they would also benefit from dropping a few more employees (I know, I know . . . budget) into the queue areas as there was usually just one attendant but lots of flash pass holders, people who weren't sure if they were flash pass holders or not, and incredible amounts of line jumping. It was fairly obvious that people were trying to take advantage of there not being sufficient coverage. Even though I only rode three rides in three hours (a record low for me), it was still fun to go walk around. I rarely ever go to the park on days that pull big crowds, so it was somewhat fun to see the place packed. I was going to take one for the team and report back on how X2s maintenance helped the ride, but even that had a 45-minute wait, which is about 35 minutes more than what it usually has and about 40 minutes more than I think it's worth. I did, however, take Robb's advice on Viper. Well, at least I intended to. I got in line for the magic seat but ended up switching at last minute with a group who wanted to ride together. I ended up riding in the very back which was better than where I usually ride it (front-ish). Great pull down the first drop and slightly less pummeling in the inversions. Still rough because of the RCT3-style track, but if I ride it again, I'll aim for that special spot and stick to the back.