Jew

I will repeat myself again: yes the ride is brand new and it should be expected that there will be technical issues. However, the problem is that SFMM doesn't do anything to communicate this. I'd be disappointed too if I made a special trip to SFMM and missed out on dueling and had an extended wait time, even if I knew going on downtime is to be expected. But I wouldn't be as disappointed if SFMM employees were doing spiels, apologizing, providing updates...

When did Gold Passholders not constitute the public? Again, as I said a few posts ago, this was NOT advertised as a soft open. That's where they dropped the ball. Waited 30 minutes just for them to open the queue and not a single spiel was made. Security were the ones walking the line instead of rides management/team members. No signage indicting "this is a soft open. The ride will be running at limited capacity and subject to close at any time." No spiels or apologies for the limited capacity. Is it expected a brand new ride will have issues? Absolutely. But the reason SFMM will always have the reputation it does is because they chose to think that it's no big deal. Show the guests you care about them and they will be understanding. Act like you don't give a crap about them and they will be like me: Spend the $6/month for a gold pass (or even less if they just have a regular pass) but not a dime more inside the park. They have a WORLD CLASS ride. Like top 10 world wide good. If their operation could match the ride...

^I noticed the mouth, but I never noticed that the animation just keeps going no matter what you do. However, I did notice that the scene kept looping without keeping score when we were delayed in one the scenes for about 5 minutes.

To be fair, it's very early on in its life. I think the biggest area sfmm drops the ball with is communication. They should do what Disney and universal do and be up front it's a "preview and subject to close/make changes at any time." They could also have offered a exit clearance to come back another time since the people coming today are coming just for the ride. But that's why sfmm is sfmm.

So aside from the fact that the ride actually opened at 11 with no one from the rides department in the queue letting us know what was going on or that they didn't use the single rider line, I won't nitpick the operations too much yet. They were trying. Lapbars will definitely become a problem if they don't "break in." Got a ride in the back my first time and the front the second ride...it's definitely a top 10 ride, though I haven't quite decided where on my top 10 it belongs. Great airtime. Top Gun stall is fun, especially with the dueling. The pre-lift section turned out to be pretty pointless. This was my first RMC, so I can't compare it to the others. A couple of other things that I nitpick: -The park directional signs haven't been updated. -For all the great work they did trying to theme the area, the generic food carts they had out today stood out like a sore thumb. Pay a little extra to rewrap them to fit the area. -In the ultimate "SFMM will always still be SFMM" moment, they spent all this money to paint Scream, change the sign, rehab the trains...but didn't bother to clean the rest of the area. The tarp covering the now closed photo booth is caked in a layer of dust, the trash cans are still beat up and dirty, and there are still rips in the vinyl they have along the ride track fence. -Leaving the media day balloons out is pretty tacky.

^Anyone who works in the entertainment industry knows that no show lasts forever. The bottom line is what matters. Ed Alonzo had done Haunt shows for years too---park had no problem booting him out for Elvira.

Well the two ice shows account for about 5 months of performances, plus there's a Haunt show for 6 weeks, and then periodic rentals (cheer competitions really like the venue). It's really only truly dark (vs transitioning from one show to another) for about 3 months per year. Ice shows are a specialty for the park, so I don't see that happening. I think the space would be better utilized for a Summer Concert series (I'm guessing they could sell a lot more tickets having radio station promoted concerts vs. Snoopy on Ice...), Haunt, and the Ice show for X-mas/Spring.

That's the ideal situation, but in case you haven't noticed...SFMM doesn't exactly keep to rehab schedules well. Their cycle shop is overworked, undermanned, and under paid. Lots of their top talent leaves for Universal or Disney as soon as they can. In fact, do any of the rides that once had 4 trains even still have 4 trains? That being said...I'm still excited for the first time in a LONG LONG TIME to actually visit SFMM tomorrow AND Friday. The ride I'm sure will be great, but I also have no doubt that when it comes time to do the manufacturer required annual rehab, trains will disappear and either be cannibalized for parts to save money or take forever to return from rehab to keep their labor costs down....

I still think it is very telling that they are already working so hard on the timing for two trains...I hope I'm wrong. I also wouldn't say it is based on nothing. What ride at SFMM has consistently been able to keep a full fleet of trains running? Extra trains either get cannibalized for parts or stay out of service forever because SFMM doesn't have the proper manpower to get the rehabs done on time.

They found a way to fit Turtle Talk with Crush into the SS Columbia , so I'm not too worried about that.

The ride is open to the public for a week? That's news to me. It is clear SFMM is using this week to see how it is best to operate and adjust operations. Smart move actually. I am with you critisising the park on poor operations, but doing so BEFORE the ride even opens to the public is a little much. So what you're saying is instead of using this week to dial in the operation at maximum capacity, they are using to figure out how to have the ride duel at less than maximum capacity? If that's not a telling sign of what is to come....

Jeez, Six Flags couldn't even wait a week to start running the ride below maximum capacity?

I ALWAYS make a point to check out Japanese versions of things like those since it's a given that even though I won't understand what's going on, the actors will be really passionate and still make it entertaining. Turtle Talk was definitely like that at TDS.

I've always thought that venue is extremely under utilized. I always thought it would be better utilized for a "summer concert series" thing.

SFMM added weights to the vehicle to limit the amount of flipping the cars do. Instead of rotating over the edges as intended, the cars don't always flip, which is quite painful since you are being thrown into the restraint.

If it's like the namtab preview, they will just have an employee looking at your pass. The problem is that even my gold pass is generic now and doesn't say gold, so I'm curious if they will have a scanner to verify it's a gold pass. I'm very excited to finally ride an RMC coaster. I'm also very curious to know how it will compare to other airtime machines I've been fortunate enough to ride on all the TPR trips. The preface of "...in California" makes me wonder how it will hold up to the rest of the country and world, though I still expect a great ride no matter what.

Technically Fast & Furious is a ride based on the definition in California law. So is Shrek FWIW. I don't think it's misleading...I just think it's realizing you have to market to the lowest common denominator. Most guests would still call it a ride regardless of how they market it.

I think the reason they chose another ride system vendor is simple: $$$$

The doughnuts are delicious and not terribly high priced considering how huge they are! Maple bacon is my favorite so far.

^One HUGE difference between those rides and Iron Reef is that there are height requirements. Marquee new ride+anyone can ride=disaster for the park. To borrow a phrase that was used in this thread already to try and justify the obvious creative flaws, "they got what they paid for." Sure it's easy to blame TrioTech, but Cedar Fair is just as much to blame for choosing to partner with TrioTech in the first place. Cedar Fair got a good deal and had to look past the fact that TrioTech was a company that specialized in 4D theaters/interactive experiences that seemingly fell into building rides by default ("hey, we sell these things to lots of parks/tourist attractions...maybe we should try a ride?") & TrioTech had to choice but to go all in after landing their biggest contract yet. Ultimately it's a gamble that I hope works out for both groups. Hopefully as they keep building them, they'll find ways to improve the ride system, better integrate the projections (yes, I know I'm nitpicking--but that's what I do as a theme park person!), and so on...

I actually wondered about that as well...the cars definitely did not seem like they are tall or fat people friendly.

^Stop picking the ride apart and just be happy something is in that building again. Pay no attention to the obvious creative flaws.

The way the vehicle opens and closes is certainly not ideal. I'm assuming that is what is causing the problems.

I would imagine that the combination of Oceaneering and Sally will produce much better results. I would also imagine Six Flags put more money into those rides... Reports from the park today was that the line was moving ridiculously slow to the point that it moved quicker from people leaving the queue than people loading onto the ride. Hope they can get that part dialed in to get close to the theoretical max (which I guess is 800pph).

They've been pretty committed to the "family friendly" thing, so I'm not expecting anything huge from KBF. Hopefully I am wrong though.