ryder
-
Posts
174 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by ryder
-
-
The mobile ordering app does work for free mug refills (assuming you have membership or AP that gets free refills), and it surprisingly worked really well. I was able to get soda refills in just a few minutes, without needing to stand in the hideous food lines. Did it at least three times in a day, all at different locations, and they all were quick.
They didn't have a "water" option on the soda refills, but in my experience,, they don't pour your drink until you get to the window to check in, so I'd suggest ordering any drink and just telling them you want water when you get to the window if you want water.
-
3 hours ago, southpuddle said:
Slowly but surely both of the rides that Riddler was built around have all been scrapped. RIP Freefall and Tidal Wave
I still mourn the Enterprise that was in the space Green Lantern occupied. Those are starting to become pretty hard to find, and still one of my favorite flats. The only one left in California is at CGA, when SFMM and Knott's both used to have one.
-
All this retro merchandise looks amazing to me... I'm going to be buying a lot of stuff!
-
^^^You don't have to know a thing about the movie to enjoy the ride.
-
1
-
-
I've been on both Harley Quinn and Tidal Twister at Sea World. Harley was a tad better than I expected, but it still definitely wasn't great (I did have an end seat). Once was more than enough, and I certainly agree with all the criticisms of the ride. Wouldn't miss it a bit if it were gone.
Tidal Twister, to me, was moderately enjoyable. Depending on where you sit, there's actually a small pop of air. It reminded me a bit of a Bayern Kurve, which I enjoy. But it was slow and clunky, the train jogs a lot, and the load process took forever.
-
2
-
-
Got to the park today, and have to say, the two new attractions are pretty great. The new ending of Jurassic World is very impressive. The cove is still somewhat of a lag, but better than before.
But the big hit is Secret Life of Pets. While it's no "E" ticket major attraction, it's got to be one of the better "C" ticket dark rides built in a while. Way better than Disney's Pooh or Monsters, Inc. And the queue is super immersive. They did a great job with that one!
-
2
-
-
I'm very covid cautious, but even the CDC recently said that transmission of covid from a surface is basically non-existent. I figure that's a pretty good reason for them to stop with the cleaning of surfaces.
The social distancing is tough, because it depends on so many other people, and people visit amusement parks not to think. But I've generally found if you politely ask people to keep space, they generally will. Keep masking up and get that vaccine, and with most of the queues being outdoors anyway, you'll likely be fine.
-
1
-
-
I'd imagine they set aside a certain number of tickets for passholders, and a certain number for day ticket purchasers. Otherwise, I could imagine quite easily that large membership demand could nearly lock out any one else possibly hoping to get a 1 day ticket.
-
1
-
-
26 minutes ago, tanthonyam said:
Busy on a Monday? Isn't Spring Break over there yet?
There's a lot of different school districts out here, and they all take Spring Break at different times---some before Easter, some after. So yeah, I can imagine there's still quite a few people on Spring Break.
-
You mean those animatronics that never worked, and just looked completely unnatural with their necks stuck in bizarre angles? With the parking garage and other non-themed structures totally visible? Yeah, I totally miss all that.
-
2 hours ago, Mike240SX said:
So, basically SFMM is currently like CP/KI/Hershey/SFGAdv/<insert major US park of your choice> last summer. Why are people surprised?
Yes, because literally everyone in SoCal has been traveling to those parks during a pandemic. Oh, wait--
Plus, a lot of people (include many here at this board) had serious doubts SFMM could make this work at all, especially as literally the first park in SoCal to open in over a year (even beating Disneyland).
-
I was also there on Saturday, and I'll add that basically nothing had lines at all for about the first 2 hours of the park opening. My advice is, if possible, get there early (we arrived at 10am for a 10:30 park opening, and was already greeted with a logjam of about 50 cars waiting to get in), and leave early, around 1 or 2pm. Which also allows you to skip having to eat lunch in the park and suffer the food lines.
But yeah, if you don't have Flash Pass/Membership FOL passes after about 1pm, you're not going to get on much other than flat rides. And even the line to get a Flash Pass/FOL at 2pm was insanely long.
At this point, I don't see any reason to even come after 2-3pm, unless you just want to walk around, or it's a weekday in the off-season. Especially since the rides are still pretty temperamental and go down often.
On a side note, if you did continue your membership payments during the pandemic, you can go to either the Membership desk or Guest Relations, and they can give you the new upgraded Diamond Elite VIP card, which is spiffy. Gets you FOUR ride passes, which came in super handy (although you can still not get them for Superman, X2, WCR, or Crazanity). We used them to still get on to TC, FT, and Goliath with no wait when they all had huge standby lines (we opted not to use the last pass, as it was getting late--we gave it away). Also FYI, you can still use your old Diamond Elite card to get the four passes if you qualify... the new card is just for looks. We got our four passes before we did the exchange for the new card.
-
13 hours ago, Jew said:
At the turnstile I was only asked to show my reservation (note on that: I wish they would update their system on the backend to tie the reservation to your pass so you didn’t have to show the reservation and then take out your pass for scanning).
While I'm not going until tomorrow, I do have Diamond Elite Membership (I kept my payments going the whole time, so it's still active), and I noticed that for my Preferred Parking reservation, the code for it now seems to be tied directly to my pass, when in the past, it was a separate barcode. So this could be something they're working on.
I'm not too surprised at the good Covid signage and availability of hand sanitizer everywhere... we got to visit SFDK back in the original brief window when they could open as a zoo back in July 2020, and they were set up the same even by then. They even had the touchless temperature and bags check already set up, too. And they are great!
And at the same time as SFDK last summer, food ordering was still an issue. I remember it took me 30 minutes to get one slice of pizza with only two people in front of me in line. Food is just not SF's strong suit, and I don't know if it ever will be. I think there's a reason they never went the food festival route during the pandemic.
But it does sound that overall, things went pretty well. Of course it's not going to be perfect... I'm sure even Disney will have problems when they reopen. Heck, Disney will likely have problems even before they reopen, because we all know their reservation system will crash. The number of problems I'm hearing about SFMM are within acceptable limits of a park that's been closed for a year, needs to restaff and retrain, and figure out completely new systems and rules for Covid. It can't be easy.
-
I could imagine it being like the old Disney Fastpass rules... you can't go earlier than your time, but anytime later is fine.
I'm not going until April 3... wanted to give them a couple days to work the kinks out
-
They just announced they will be opening with rides on April 16. Secret Life of Pets will be open immediately. Likely that Minions, Simpsons, and Special Effects show will not be open, but most of the other attractions should be with queue modifications (like FJ and other rides like Mummy will only use the outdoor queue, and will pulse guests inside).
-
I always had doubted if those donuts were any good, but I finally got one of the pink ones, and it was surprisingly good. Only catch, it can go stale in a day or two, so don't delay.
-
I've already got my tickets for opening weekend! It'll be interesting to see if all the rides will be open, or if some will be shut down due to staffing issues or ride rotation programs.
-
FWIW, they've taken down all those references... though strangely, if you have a membership that includes parking, you can obtain a parking pass for April 3 onward. But the rest of the site has taken down all the "April 1" reopening date and returned to "Spring 2021", and you are currently unable to reserve a park ticket. Just membership parking.
-
I'm with you that I worry about 1) that we won't get to/stay in red tier, especially with new variants going around, 2) that LA/OC may put in their own guidance that will supersede the state and make things tougher, and that 3) the situation is very fluid. I'm not necessarily expecting parks to be open right away on April 1 either.
That said, I've always felt that SFMM will have an easier time in regards to Covid rules, because nearly all their rides and queues are outdoors to begin with (except JL, of course). Knott's is also in the same boat. It's really Disney and Universal that are left more in a lurch, as many more of their attractions are indoors.
I can also imagine that once parks do open, it doesn't necessarily mean all their attractions will be open. I can especially see SFMM doing a ride rotation operation to safe on staffing costs... and sadly, I wouldn't be able to blame them.
-
^From just two events? And it's not like there's really all that much of an alternative. Six Flags isn't exactly known for their food, so I don't think a food event is in their cards.
In any case, I do think one key difference is this is a daytime event. Even though I'm not a car person, it'll just be nice to see the park in daylight.
Oh, and I did get my email for members, lol
-
A saw an email from a passholder who did already pay, and they were told they'll be able to redeem 2 free park passes once the park reopens.
Also, when I looked, it seems they also lowered the price. It's now only $49 per car, as long as you have 4 people or less in the car. If you have more than 4, then the price does go up.
-
I'm so not a car show person either... but I do definitely think there's an audience for this. Like, whenever I do the Universal Studios Tour, one of the areas that gets the most attention for pictures is the part where they show cars from movies. People eat it up, for reasons beyond me.
Also, keep in mind that West Coast Customs is SoCal based.... their headquarters are right in Burbank. So there's likely a stronger fan base for it here. Which is probably a big reason this wouldn't work so well at any other SF park.
While it's not an event I'm really interested in, and probably not many on this board, it isn't even trying to appeal to a coaster crowd. This is a totally different audience. And while I don't think it'll be as popular as their HitP event (which can appeal to a very broad base), I think it'll likely find a decent draw.
This didn't come out of nowhere. SFMM sent out a survey last year about other possible Drive Thru events, and this was one of the options they listed. I suspect it got enough positive response on that survey to warrant making it happen.
-
3 hours ago, Mike240SX said:
"But everything in SoCal is expensive..." This was the rationale used to explain the ridiculous HitP drive-through price, so I guess it applies here too?
Yup.
Most SoCal Holiday Drive Thru events are $60-$100 per car. Stranger Things Drive Thru? About $130-$200 per car. The new Drive Thru Electric Mile EDM and light experience? $80-$140 per car. Another newly announced Candy Themed Drive Thru called "Sugar Rush" (seriously... I wish I could make this stuff up)... tickets start at $75 per car.
That $20 a person they were charging for HitP was a relative bargain for this area (unless you had more than four people in a car, I suppose). It was way cheaper that most of our comparative Drive Thru events. And I'd estimate the SFMM Drive Thru to be about 10-15 minutes longer than the other ones (except Stranger Things, which takes about an hour), so in a way, it still works out cheaper than the other Drive Thru events, since it lasts longer for the same price.
-
I didn't think it was. I know some recent drone footage showed some of the roof being removed, but I thought it was more for repairs.
I mean, their app is really unreliable, and probably even more so now since it's basically useless until the park reopens. Even in the off chance it is being removed, I think the ride not appearing on the app is incidental.
The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
As I understand it, you can use your phone to purchase the Flash Pass, but you still have to stand in line to pick it up.
And if you're a member picking up your included FOL passes, I believe you can use a different line and skip all the people picking up a Flash Pass.