Capitalize
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Posts posted by Capitalize
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Went to the park today in the afternoon. Got on all the coasters (that were open, details coming up), ROAR 2 times.
Wild One is stuck halfway up the lift... Didn't budge all day and it didn't look like anything was being done to move it all day, so i assume this is a serious problem and not just a silly mistake thats fixed in 10 mins like what I said before...
Avalanche is being disassembled. All the cars have been removed and are lined up against the outside fence of the ride. Not sure if its being moved again or if its time to say au revoir to Avalanche...
SROS had multiple breakdowns and had to be evac'd, not fun.
Basically, not a great day due to rides being down. But still a fun time all in all.
edit: forget to mention a couple details. Two Face is still not open and has had nothing done to it all season since it first closed. So yeah, continue to not get your hopes up of it reopening...
Funny story, I went back to Batwing first, it didn't have a bad line, but noone was regulating people going into the station, so that was chaos. I was waiting for the back when a group of 6 or 7 guys went through the back flash pass gate to cut in line. I asked them what they were doing, they didn't answer, so I just ignored them and figured screw it they aren't cutting in front of me so w/e.
A couple trains later 4 guests come up with flash passes and took the back row, it was TOO funny to hear these kids who cut the 40 minute line start complaining "WHAT?! I have to wait LONGER?!"
So I just turned around and told them "Yeah, at least you didn't actually wait in the 40 MINUTE LINE back there, imagine how pissed you'd be then."
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Both versions suck equally & should be torn down to make way for something that's more enjoying/less painful.
I have never ridden the Hurler at Carowinds, but the one at KD was not even close to enjoyable. No air time, bone jarring, jack-hammering...just no fun at all. People complain about Mean Streak for being rough, but that is glass smooth compared to this thing! I think that most older wooden coasters seem to ride a bit smoother in the front - but that is just my opinion and others may beg to differ. Couple that with the fact that I am 36 and not 16 anymore...my body can't take that kind of abuse!
The Rebel Yell wasn't much better, but gave a fun, decent ride in the front. The back however, was a different story - jack-hammer city! I figured being that the racing coaster was so much better in the front (just like Mean Streak) that I would go right for the front of Hurler...same result as the back of Rebel Yell - OW, OWW & OWWWWW!!!!
Not to get too far off topic - I am still glad that KD is getting some more flats!
I have to call shenanigans on the "no air-time" claim. First two bunny hills after the first high bank turn have great ejector air, thats the only reason I ride Hurler every time I visit the park. Hurler at KD in the front seat is a fine ride. The only terribly rough part is the first turn, after that you get some decent airtime and a reasonably smooth ride. Rebel Yell on the other hand sucks out loud, which is really sad because backwards was incredibly fun and smooth.
I am incredibly happy to hear about KD hopefully receiving a ferris wheel. First thing I heard GL was closing I thought "please let KD get Dominator and the ferris wheel, they would be perfect for the park". El Dorado will be a nice fit also.
Now if only SFA would finally add anything other then a water slide my home parks would be good to go...
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I got Wild One stuck once...
It happens fairly regularly actually, well, it did when I worked there. The attendant on the exit side of the station has to hold a presence button to bring the train in from the final block brake. The button has to be held at the same time as the operator doing his thing (I never OP'd Wild One so I don't know specifically what the op does on that ride), if the attendant and OP are holding the button at the wrong time or hold it for too long it stops the ride, leaving one train on the lift and one train on the final brakes before the station. My second day attending Wild One I did that.
edit: also, I'm going to the park tomorrow for a bit early in the day to get a ride or two on all the coasters. I'm pumped.
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The bolts are just lame.
I would pay some cash for track to a coaster I enjoyed or had sentimental values for, but 250 is outrageous. Unfortunately RWB was already down for the count when I made my first and only trip to GL during their final summer.
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Man o man I miss going to Fright Fest. I used to make it out at least a few times a year, since going away to college though its just too far away to make the trip. I loved getting final dark, chilly as heck, rides on ROAR, Wild One, and SROS. I would love to get back there this season, I really miss always living so close to the park as opposed to a couple months a season.
So what is going to happen to the house? Is it just going to slowly fall apart or eventually be taken down?
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Its too bad its so hard to see nowadays. It would be tough to get a decent picture, especially in the summer with all the leaves. I remember back in 2000-2001 it was really easy to see back there behind Wild One, now you have to look hard to really even notice it.
So I guess in general its accepted as simply being a really old creepy, potentially haunted, house...
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to jimmy
I've also been on Lightning Racer (twice in a row once) Which is my favorite wooden coaster there, I've also been on the Mouse, Comet, and Roller Soaker. Those 3 were decent. Lightning Racer just rocks.
You might feel better about getting on Great Bear if you get on Super Dooper Looper first then, I suppose. Warm you up to the whole inversion/upside down thing.
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Great Bear is a fun, smooth ride. It doesn't really have any huge forces or anything. If you're feeling really nervous about it, the best solution is get there first thing the park opens, go straight to Great Bear, walk right on one of the middle rows with no waiting and just get it done with.
I can just about guarantee you will find it to be a fun time... Like I said, its really smooth and I find it to be great fun. Hopefully if you're anything like me you'll go on anything after a B&M invert. Ages ago (1998 ) I went to BGE and got on Alpengeist (much larger, more forceful inverted coaster then Great Bear), since then you can't keep me off any coaster.
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In the near future:
More wood coasters; and steel coasters being smaller in stature and length but having more "gimicky" features (random new elements and such)
Other then that... who knows, I hope most of the theme parks here in the states can withstand long term economic downturns like we're starting to see now.
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Does anyone know the story that belongs to that house directly behind Wild One's helix? If you do, can you tell it?
-Tatum
All I know is the hearsay about it... Its been standing for ages, apparently members of the family who lived there are buried there and in a way they "haunt" the park. Basically on the day the daughter died every season the park has a lot of mechanical issues like rides going down and all that. I think its just SFA being SFA and rides going down like they always do personally...
Thats in general all I really know about it... I've never been back there, but according to people I worked with who walked back there one night its incredibly creepy and old.
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He is inventing stuff, again. SFA doesn't compete with the Redskins, there is no competition there. The Redskins would win hands down no matter who owned them and by the way, Dan Snyder doesn't like that stadium. If you search the Redskins forums there are all kinds of rumors about him moving the team back to D.C. and is designing his own stadium that will be part of his legacy. If you said he didn't want another owner to compete with Great Adventure then I might agree with you.
SFGAdv would destroy SFA. Parc would have to spend tons of money to even come close to great adventure.
SFGAdv isn't in any kind of competition with SFA for guests anyways. Only 3 parks even remotely in competition with SFA is KD, BGE, and HP to a lesser extent. No GP from the DC area makes the 4-4.5 hour drive through all those toll roads to visit SFGAdv in my experiences.
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They're still there. I'm assuming that they've cancelled the plans to build the coaster considering the cost of a construction crane. SFI doesn't have that kind of money...at least not for SFA.
Based on what I had heard (only time I worked at SFA was the first summer UT was brought in), they intended to rebuild it, but apparently the deconstructing crew absolutely tore it to pieces; making it 100X more difficult then it would have been. I guess they were just in such a hurry down there in Houston to have a big empty field instead of a park they couldn't take their time and do the job right.
The trains are still under SROS and the track is still back in the graveyard by Batwing.
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They were supposed to get a stand up but it was cancelled for Batwing back in 2001.It was on that list that was drawn up between the park & county back in july,99 when SFI still had plenty of money to work with before they went on their spending spree that put the chain where it is now.
If memory serves me, the aformentioned standup coaster went to SFOG as Georgia Scorcher-
As for the park: Rundown would be a good word for it. Lack of attention also comes to mind. As does decaying.
I'm reminded very clearly of what other parks in the past have done: Either renovate and expand, or close your gates. SFA has some -very good- coasters in S:ROS and Wild One (I don't care how many people complain that it's not that great- I love it.) as well as ROAR (Which I thought was running fine three weeks back) in addiiton to Jinx. With some investment in the park's apperance, a new coaster and some other new flat rides, the park could be EXTREMELY successful in it's future endeavours. However, considering the recent spattering of bad attention (Myself included, read earlier on in this thread) it seems that SFInc is determined to turn this park into a Ghost Town. SFA is a tarnished jewel in the crown- and DESPERATLY needs attention to regain it's status.
2001 was, in my opinion, it's highest point- when the park looked and felt like how a Six Flags park should lood: well staffed, clean, brightly painted, and with plenty of attractions running. Nowadays, it's like the other side of the mirror: Crumbling, decaying and without the luster it used to have.
I think its funny because I strongly disagree... The past couple seasons the park's appearance has improved significantly to me. It used to be incredibly dirty with trash everywhere and overflowing trash cans... Understaffing has always been a problem with that park.
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^Yeah I agree with you 100% with the locals not caring about slow operations. I go to SFA atleast 2 times a week and I always have fun, whether I ride all the coasters or just hangout with friends. I also think the "ghetto" statements are kind of racist since alot of black people (including myself) live around and visit SFA. I think people just shouldn't call a mainly black area park ghetto because that can start up some really crazy comment wars.
As someone who patronized the park for 9 full seasons as a passholder(and two as a paying customer in the years prior) I must say that no matter how many times I've ridden any given ride I simply do not appreciate the policies put in place regarding flashpass & the lockers.
Had KD done the same things in terms of operations I'd complain just as much & it would impact my decision on wether or not to visit the park so it's not entirely all a bout the lack of new additions at SFA for me.
Speaking of additions: with two face supposedly on the chopping block I wonder if a whole SWT makeover is in the works? They could also remove TOD while they're at it.
What were your thoughts when KD had a fast pass system in place on Volcano for a season a few years back? I personally didn't mind because I could get a ticket in the morning, come back and skip a 2 hour wait for Volcano...
For the record in all my years visiting the park and a season working at the park I have never seen the fast pass system used as you described, but you seem to have had the misfortune of visiting on much busier days then I based on your descriptions.
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"I also think the "ghetto" statements are kind of racist" (SFAfan#1)
First of all, I'm beyond tired of the "racist" accusation of all too many things. "Ghetto" may be a term used to describe an area where black people live, but another definition of it is "run down" or "crummy looking."
Is the term "run down" racist in some way?
Eric
Well, to be fair, I would guess at least 90% of the employees at the park are african american and the majority of the guests are african american... So in a way calling it ghetto can kind of be interpreted as a slight against the people visiting/working there...
edit: also, the ghetto comments don't stem from the appearance of the park. If there is one thing you can say nice about SFA the past couple seasons is it has become extremely clean and well groomed the majority of the time, and some parts of the park are maintained very well and have great scenery (in particular the front of the park, the only area that doesn't look decent scenery wise is Gotham). So I would say that the "ghetto" tag on SFA isn't in regards to it appearing run down or crummy.
I don't find SROS to be boring in the least. It has far more airtime then a coaster like MF for example... I don't see how anyone could say it has "little" airtime... The 3rd hill alone gives you around a second of sustained airtime. Then the final 3 hills give you lots of ejector airtime. I've never been bothered by the long straightaway before the 3rd hill simply because the train is going so fast at that point in the ride, if anything gives you a moment to enjoy the speed it has... I do wish the helixes were a bit tighter so there were more positive g's.
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I have to add my 2 cents in here. While I really do like the coaster collection at SFA, I have found that operations (especially on Batwing and Superman) as well as guest relations to be abysmal. This is from 2 seperate visists to the park within 2 years of each other (2006 and 2008). There were several instances where they had to call park security for unruly park guests. While the park is in a somewhat nice area, it still seems to draw out some really questionable park guests. Hands down I would choose KD over SFA if you are trying to decide which park to visit. I visited SFGadv and SFA in the same weekend, SFGadv hands down is a much better park than SFA....in ALL areas of operation.
Eh, in my visits to SFGAdv I would essentially describe it as SFA with longer lines and more people (and much better coasters). The guests at SFGAdv at least to me are a whole lot worse, more cutting in lines and more general douchebaginess. Basically in my 4 trips to SFGAdv I had one trip that I would all in all describe as a truly great experience. In my other trips either the huge crowds and their terrible behavior, or awful operations by the park made it anywhere from an unmemorable to downright terrible day.
But this thread is about SFA, so I'll get back on topic. I think part of the reason many of the people who live around the park and have season passes think its a fine place it simply because we have the benefit of being able to visit the park dozens of times a season, so even if the park has a bad day, the next time we come it could be great, so the good and bad go hand in hand and kind of cancel each other out. Also, we don't care about slow operations on coasters because we've already been on every coaster loads of times and will get on them plenty more.
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I just realized >
. The day im going to SFA is a thursday which means its on the stupid starburst concert thing series. Has anybody been on a thursday this season? Has it been crowded?EDIT: Okay im a little shaken about going after reading like 22 tripadvisor reviews. They were all horrible. I might decide to go to Kings Dominion instead afterall but I'm not sure yet. Like for example one review said they were scared to death walking back to their car in the poorly lit parking lot.......But then they love Kings Dominion and I've thought Kings Dominion is ghetto before. What do you guys think of Six Flags America in terms of people and operations NOWadays.
Wow, really? Afraid of walking to their car at night? I'm sorry but that is just plain silly and if anything just sounds like some repressed racism in the reviewer if they're terrified of walking in a darkly lit parking lot that happens to more then likely have a lot of african american families and groups of kids...
SFA is not that bad. I think its better then SFGAdv, (not the coasters, the guest experience) simply because it has the same general quality of employees and guest relations people but crowds that are normally 100X worse... And Kings Dominion like I said before is more "ghetto" then SFA imho recently.
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Can't wait for the middle of August when I'll be making a trip out there.
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^ That sounds sweet. Dosen't that Penguin raft also allow regular clothes? How is Superman Running? Does it provide ejector air or floater air?
Both, ejector air on the final hills and floater air on the first two. Front row rides are a must, lots of them.
Its running really well this season, blue train is running a bit faster right now as it has been operating all season and red train was added recently, it seems it hasn't fully broken in yet as I can feel a difference in the speed it carries through the ride compared to the blue train.
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I went out to the park today from 2:30 to 5ish.
It was a great day to be there, the crowds were very small and all the coasters (minus Two Face of course) were open. I was happy to see everything was a walk on, except Batwing which had a 2 train wait. Clearly with getting on all the coasters (minus two face and mind eraser) with a couple re-rides describes how nice a day it was in terms of crowds.
I was surprised to see Wild One has been completely pimped out to AAA... They have a huge banner on the lift facing the front of the park and dozens of ads in the station. It doesn't look horrible, but its definitely less "classy" the the other ad's that have been added to the park the past couple seasons. I asked one of the attendants if he knew when they added all the ads he said he had no idea... I can only say for certain it was sometime in the past 2 weeks or so.
The park is really pushing the concerts coming up (Flo Rida, Mario, and of course the big MTV concert) with some signage around the front of the park.
I'm just going to hold out hope that some kind of larger investment is coming next season as it really looks as if Two Face is on the way out. Absolutely nothing is being done to it that makes it look like they have any intention to reopen it.
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That really really sucks. The international people at SFA at least lived in decent apartments down the road from the park and seemed to be having a ball (plenty of partying and fun times).
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You know if this happened in a nation outside of america, the media would have left the story and the family of the incident alone by now and also no-one would be sued. Or attempted to be sued.
Anyway, I think this now counts as the second roller-coaster related darwin award, as sad for freinds and family and witnesses as it is. The first being published in volume IV about the woman who wanted "airtime".
Wow... Who on earth would write such a terrible story? I had no idea Raven was inside HW's water park... And I had no idea every time I raved about a ride's airtime I was improperly using safety equipment and endangering my life...
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I'm going to SFA 7/17. Can't wait hopefully the park will be empty. I hope to the dear lord that two face is fixed by then. Does anybody know the story behind why Two Face is closed?
In all honesty, I'm essentially talking out my ass here. But if I had to make a guess as to what is wrong with the ride it would be an issue existing in the train as every time I have visited the first car has had the fiberglass off... I dunno, though.
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It could've been worse, at least they had the spinning mouse, I always enjoyed those at least a bit.
. The day im going to SFA is a thursday which means its on the stupid starburst concert thing series. Has anybody been on a thursday this season? Has it been crowded?
TOP 5 B&M INVERTED COASTERS
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
1. Afterburn
2. Montu
3. Alpie
4. Raptor
5. Dueling Dragons (combined... but I would say 5a. Fire and 5b. Ice)