A long time reader here, but have never posted before. As I've used this site for research, I wanted to post about a recent trip.
We just returned from six weeks in the US, which included quite a few parks - Cedar Point, Kings Island, Knotts, Busch Gardens Tampa, Disney's Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios; and Universal's IoA and Studios, as well as SFGA.
SFGA was new to us and we had a fantastic time, better than expected!
We took the bus from NYC for the day (Sunday, 18 Sept.), arriving before the park opened.
We didn't have Flash Passes, which weren't needed with all rides walk-on. We rode all (open) coasters multiple times and had the best day.
After reading about El Toro for a long time now, it was one of the two most anticipated coasters at the park for us and unfortunately it was closed all day.
Kingda Ka was closed when the park opened and I kept putting off a run over there to check if it was going to open, because after travelling 16,000 km, finding both closed was really killing me. We finally got there two hours after open and it literally opened the moment we arrived. We ran straight to the front row and wow. I thought my eyelids were going to turn inside out with the wind. It's impossible to keep a straight face! We rode it four times. The acceleration didn't feel as smooth as TTD, sorta like it jerked four times getting up to speed which was fine! Just a different feel to TTD.
We rode Joker first up, which is great on an empty stomach and completely cold to the forces of a coaster! With no lines, we rode twice, but the partner was bored by it so we moved on.
Bizarro was next and really fun. Super annoying slow load times even with four ride operators, with a half empty station, the third train was going through unloaded. I like the half attempt at theming the ride, much better than unpainted ex-car park you see at SFMM!
We were there, so meh, why not, we rode the Mine Train. Little bit surprising that it had a slight thrill! certainly better than similar at Cedar Point and Kings Island.
We still hadn't heard Toro, so wandered over to have our hearts broken properly - it wasn't going to run at all today.
Diablo was there, so on we jumped.
Around to Kingda Ka we gingerly walked, as we couldn't hear a peep from it. But as I said above, it started testing the moment we arrived and on we jumped. I live for this ride, my partner bears with me on it
Drop rides are more my partner's thing, so I thought we might make a quick side excursion to Zumanjaro. UM, why is there not a shuttle service out there!? hah
After the long walk back to civilisation, Green Lantern was next. We rode front row first and were shocked, our heads were not pummeled and walked off without a headache. That was saved for the next ride when we tried the back. Ouch. We came back later in the night to try the front and loved the intensity of the first inversion.
Superman was also a nice surprise. Obviously not as big as Tatsu, but at least the loading procedure wasn't as slow as Firehawk at Kings Island. It was fun though!
A quick stop for the Twister then a cross to the other side of the park.
Nitro was first and such a pleasant coaster. All that air time makes for a nice cool relief in the hot afternoon sun. After a few rides (and an interesting interaction with the man next to me with a thick Jersey accent: 'ISIS know not to fuck with you Australians!', um ok) the partner was getting sick of walking round in circles to reride so on we moved.
Batman is awesome! It doesn't really look like much, but it was super fun.
The poor mouse on Dark Knight has had all the 'wild' taken out of it, sad.
As Skull Mountain was closed, we rode a few more flat rides, then around the park we went again!
Can't wait to return next time we are in the US.
Great view as you disembark the bus
Bizarro, in the middle front row, you get a little foot rest!
It breaks the heart to travel so far, be so close, and not be able to ride.
A few ibuprofen were popped post ride, but still had fun!
I just wish you could go round twice, it is over so fast.
Not the ride to take beautiful pics on...
