castaway_kid

Superman has been down for repairs and should be about ready to reopen. Word on the street is that repairs should be beginning soon on Boomerang. I have heard that they are waiting until the park goes to weekends only operations to begin the major repairs to the track.

The capacity of harbor changes from day to day based on staffing levels, but generally it is 4,000-4,500 for normal days and maxes out around 5,000 on busy days. Once capacity is hit they "meter" the guests, so for every one guest that leaves one is allowed in.

It is slated to open tomorrow morning.

The Daffy Ducks Dance Off is inside the Empire Theater, however, it will not be opening for a few more days as they are ironing out all the last minute stuff it takes to open up a new Warner Brothers show, so in the meantime, the characters have been doing dance party/meet and greets on the porch. I think the show is set to open this weekend or maybe a day earlier.

The Miss Kitty's show is the same this year as last, but the Looney Toon show and the Palace Shows are both brand new. The Palace opens this Saturday and Empire soon after apparently. And every show usually happens 3 times a day. It is true that shows don't change every year, most shows have a 2-3 season run as redoing a show is quite a large ordeal.

You can find maps at the two large carts located directly in front of the main enterance gate. You have to walk right past one to get to either side of the park. These carts are full of maps, show guides, and info on dining passes. Also some of the retail stores and the Palace box office have maps available as well.

Actually HWFan, that top statement is not completely dead wrong. For someone that has worked at the park you should be aware of how the "new management" has decreased the amount of training given to employees. For example, till training and POS training didn't happen in a classroom environment this year, just OJT, and that was also cut back on. This truly is an issue of not training enough, not having top of the line employees in certain roles, and also having to many dining passes and not enough locations to support it.

The big things are obviously the lights and décor around the park. Shows are also a huge part of it and as this park has some of the largest theaters in the chain, they should be able to put on some pretty good shows. Also the park will have seasonal food options and HITP specific merchandise. And as for watching the construction of new rides that is also fun to do in the "off season" even Fireball construction started the day after the park closed this year. So who knows, there may be some sight seeing opportunities.

Holiday In The Park is the big new "attraction" for this season. So when you consider the addition of HITP, Fireball, New Revolution, plus all the other smaller upgrades the park has received this season including an entirely new underground power grid, this has been a pretty good season for this park.

While I don't disagree that our most likely addition is an S&S freespin, this building permit shows that the park has different options on the table. Generally each SF park has 2 or 3 possibilities going into each season that are solidified by early to mid summer. So just because we all may be thinking an S&S is what's coming, it hasn't been decided yet for sure, and the park still has its options.

Just going to throw this out there. Allegedly a building permit with a height limit in the 250-300 foot range was talked about last October with the city of Eureka. The source of this info is a Eureka firefighter that also works with building and zoning. Not sure if this is accurate at all but could be interesting.

The only critters at the park more comfortable with people than the deer are the skunks. In all my time working there, I have gotten within a few feet of them and sometimes they come up to me haha. Essentially once the park closes it becomes a zoo, all the deer, raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, geese.... they're everywhere

Just to add to the list of improvements that have happened around the park, The Log Flume had its supports and the interior and exterior of the troughs on the main drop and to the station painted over this past week, it really looks nice and is just the tip of the iceberg of new projects as the painting season begins now.

Once... I mean if Tidal Wave is removed it essentially is a completely new area of the park within the last few years, minus the Eagle which isn't going anywhere. They have done a pretty good job redoing probably the most boring section of the park and transforming it into a very visually appealing area with quite a few good thrills.

Whenever I ride Boomerang I'm struck by how rough the catch is on the "back" lift hill. Is that something endemic to the design (I've never ridden another Boomerang) or is it a quirk of our particular train/catch car? When Boomerang was relocated from SFOT, I believe they changed the catch mechanism, along with quite a few other changes like chopping the support structure for the lifts in half to fit into the hill. Talking with one of the park electricians about the new catch system, he said that was one of the reasons the ride opened so late but should be a better system in the long run. As far as I know SFSTL's boomerang is the only one with this new style catch system though.

If I remember correctly, Ninja actually has one of the highest riderships of all of the rides in the park. Granted this was from 2 years ago, but I don't imagine much has changed since then.

The best days to go are generally Tuesdays-Thursdays. This avoids the crowds on the weekends and anyone that has a three day weekend. Also any days that have rain in the forecast are good to go. The crowds will be minimal and SFSTL doesn't close most ride because of rain or wind (there are of course some exceptions to that). You probably wouldn't need to spend any money other than food and parking if you don't have a gold pass. No need for a flash pass unless its a very very busy day.

Calicos is not just a vacant old restaurant, its kitchen is heavily used for supplying a large chunk of all the food stands around the park, and the dining room area is used as a storage/maintenance area for Culinary Services equipment.