arrowfanman

Well, it certainly looks as if Cedar Point has a good ride on their hands. It feels balanced. Its got a little bit of everything. Its got a lift, launch, airtime, speed, the drop, inversions, twists...hell, even themeing and practically duels itself! My only concern, is that is valiant attempts to have a little of everything, will result in it having a whole lot of nothing. No one element of this thing really stands out to me. And for that reason, it may lack personality. It's like a beefed up Big Thunder Mountain, minus a mountain and the cute little goat. That doesn't mean it will be a bad ride! I think it looks like a great roller coaster! I'm just still a little confused by it. -Jahan p.s. I guess I better bookmark this, because when I check back in a few hours, its going to be on its 100th page.

Wow! That has to be the most I've read since...I was in high school! But thanks for the awesome report Julie! Cant want for part dos! And tres. And quatro. And... -Jahan

Those pictures are awesome! Oh man, I could always use a good "Jahan, your still a young guy" reminder. Just playin! You were a beautiful kid, dearie. -Jahan

Oh God Epcot looks like such a beautiful park! I cant wait! Thanks for documenting the family tree for us. I'm sure the fanboys will go wild for that. Which is unfair of me to say, as aparently I'm on that list. Have a safe flight home! -Jahan

Now now Mike. Dont take this as a personal attack. Firstly, that's exactly what he said--the teens don't overrun the park. His argument is that it is in fact the park that has run-itself down. Not the teens which management prefer to use as a scapegoat. Secondly, I understand that there is a "reason" why the Cups are down. But when you pay $59.99 to get into a park, it isn't the responsiblity of the guest to "understand" the reason behind the closure. As far as I'm concerned, for 60 bucks, this is a problem that "they" (the park) should have looked at when they built the ride in the first place! You can't expect the guests to be sympathetic when they are in the process of being financially raped. And in my expirence with early Scrambler closures (also for "hot seats"), most of the time its merely supervisors searching for a lame excuse for not having to staff a ride. -Jahan

^ Yea, I read that too today. Thought he did a pretty good job of summing up the park. Thanks for the link. -Jahan

You cant market these things anymore. Most people dont look at them as "a ride".

Thanks for the update wrs28330! -Jahan

8/29/06 Mini-Update Ok folks, I'm back again, and with another update. The pictures were all taken yesterday (8/28), but I'm sure that you'll still get the just of it. Well, yesterday was yet another day when I had witness the very routine burning of land adjacent to the Santa Clarita Valley. Unfortunately for you guys, the blaze was a good 5 miles away from SFMM. *sigh*...this is really getting old. Anyway, while I was out and about grabbing some shots of the fire, I found out that TJ and our friend Julian was at the Mountain, so I thought I'd go hang out for an hour or two. As my camera was already on me, it came quite natural for me to make an update out of it. Yay! A pretty cool display was set up for Fright Fest. I'm just glad to know that we actually get one! Ok, so I got in and TJ was up by Tatsu, so I figured I'd take my time...go check out the Orient Express, see how its doing. Pretty much the whole lower station has almost been completely-painted. This process has only taken about 4 months now. *sigh* Yea...still not done. And of what is done, it looks like a rather "quick" job. I wonder why its taking so long! A look into the unit itself. The floor is now missing. Your going to like this shot, because I looked like a stupid-ass balancing on Revolutions support trying to get it! I thought I'd never see the day when graffitti would find its way into SFMM. Ohhhh, yeessss....Whose a dirty little train! You are, BABY! Then I headed on towards X and Viper. As I expected, I got this... Yes, X is STILL down. I'm no maintenece worker or mechanical engineer, but problems like this dont just "happen" with proper maintence. Your lift doesn't just blow up like this! You really got to ignore a small problem for quite some time to do this sort of damage! Just like how Goliath's lift blew up earlier this summer! Well...Shapiro is trying to match Disneyland...perhaps in maintenece too. Oh dang! For a second there I thought X was on fire! Onward to Tatsu! *sigh* C'mon guys! This is getting to be too easy! I mean, at first I was looking out for it, but now...they seem to come to me! At least he was nice enough to semi-look up as a guest asked for a water. They finally have begun to re-construct the games-awning that faces the Tatsu crew. Recently I had been getting lots of people ask me about the status of Freefall, a ride mere weeks from reopening. Well, as for the status... its still weeks from reopening! The car has slowly made its way further and further up...when it drops, the ride reopens! Its like a long and boring New Years celebration! The second car has been sitting here for quite some time now. Its even hooked up to be transfered on....but it hasn't been. There is also a third car, now sitting in pieces behind Batman. Yay! They put BACK the "Exit Here" sign! You cant deny progress when you see it. Whats funny, is shouldn't the "Exit Here" sign be facing the other way, facing where people get off the ride and wonder where to exit? For all we know, some stupid guests exiting Riddler's will think to exit INTO Freefall. And lastly... Yup folks. Now not only have the local area high schools returned in session, so has College of the Canyons (the local community college)....which means that exect every ride to pretty much be closed now! Good thing the internationals dont leave until the park goes to weekend-only operation, or else they would have three rides open...and one of them isn't X. Well...there's another quick update. Hope you liked it! -Jahan

*sigh*....its in the next post. -Jahan

There comes a film, once a generation, that breaks all of the rules. A film which redefines the role of cinema in our hearts and minds. THIS is that film. Two thumbs way way pounded! Thank you for that awesome video Ryan! Hope to see some more of your work soon! -Jahan

Long live the Kings! -Jahan

Alright folks. There isn't enough going on to do a full update, but I snapped a few for a "Mini Update" . The biggest news at SFMM right now has to be these SEVERE budget cuts. They are litterally scraping every loose penny they could. See...if you dont have to staff Scrambler for 2 hours out of the day, you save a mere 14-16 bucks, minus the electrical cost of running the ride. These are the kind of desparate cuts being made. Crews are scheduled to come in later (which often means that rides dont get opened on time), rides are opened purposefully later. A ride like Psyclone, for example, has been reduced to merely one crew! (Rides have a day and night crew...Psyclone is closed throughout some of the day due to having only one crew). From an operational perspective. SFMM's 6 ride areas have been returned to a mere 3 ride areas, often meaning, in my expirence, that there is less supervision (oftentimes one sup has the responsiblity of staffing 1/3 of the park! Which means at a small ride like mine, it is hard to get the attention of a Supervisor!) And that is only rides. I guess you cant blame everything on the budget changes...SFMM has ALWAYS had this problem! Entertainment, like all other Six Flags Parks, has been severely butt-raped. I have noticed a DRAMATIC decrease in characters, parade size, etc. As a matter of fact, only now that the park has reduced to 10-8 operation have I noticed the slight return of some entertainment. We still have our Chinese Acrobats and Batman show, but I cant see them lasting much longer than Labor Day Weekend. I would even be so bold as to charge SFMM of raising the prices a tad in the employee cafeteria (Oasis) and possibly the vending machines too, as I dont remember the pasty, under-cooked pizza costing $3.50 in the past! But I have no real proof to back up that claim. In other news... The games area in Colossus County Fair (which, when the park was operating 10am-10pm, was opening an hour late due to budget cuts), has recieved new speakers which blast a universal soundtrack throughout the games area, rather than the specific music between some games. I see a speaker hiding up there! And for some reason, half of Goliaths lift hill is illuminated by pinkish-purple lights! I dont know why! Perhaps they didn't want to order new green ones and opted to merely use Scream's purple lights, which were in stock! Sorry for the blurryness. Last but certainly not least, Canyon Blaster's riders-per-hour has dramatically decreased! What a shame....no-one to blame but the ride operators... Well, thats my mini-update! Hope you enjoyed it! -Jahan[/i]

Your damn paparazzi flash weirded out my eyes there! ... Anyway, it was nice to finally meet you, and everyone else. Being forced to listen to all of R&E's stories about all these people who I dont know, it was nice to finally see that they were real people! And glad to hear that you had a good time at SFMM!...I take full responsiblity. I hope to see you at the next par-tay. -Jahan

Hey guys! I'll more than likely be working at the Atom Smasher/Grinder Gearworks Saturday, so stop by and say "hi", unless your Joey! If I'm not there, ask for me! -Jahan

Nowhere did it say that the ride was a catylist for her heart-problem. So we dont have to get all defensive now! -Jahan

Great trip report as always! As I can adult daipers, I can always depend on a good Johnson trip report! They're entertaing, informative, and well composed. -Jahan

There are occasions where maintenence makes the call, if they do not authorize certain units to be operated. However, in truth (at SFMM), a number of people could make the call. The lead at the atttraction cannot do it by his or her self, but can request that another train be added to the main line. A supervisor can also make the call. However, if the decision has to do with cost cutting, that decision most likely came from high operations management, and other boyfriends of moms. -Jahan

^Agreed. Even if it were to reopen. Even if they refurbed it. It wouldn't be worth dedicating people to operate it! I mean, when it was open, I dont remember seeing more than 2-7 guests in the station at one time! It sits in a horrible location...on a relative tumor off of the main pathways. When guests see that vast ocean of concrete, they aren't attracted. They would rather stay on the main pathway. Not to mention, is location at the front of the park isn't helping anything. I say tear it out, tear out the Metro station there, as well as the Flashback maintence shed, Metro transfer area, and that vast ocean of concrete pathway in front of the ride....tear that all out and donate the land to Hurricane Harbor. That park needs the land more than SFMM does. Of course, thats assuming that the parks have a future and all. -Jahan

Relocation costs millions of dollars. ...they're not relocating it. -Jahan

Thanks for the TR Julie! You know I love them...the even the non-coaster related bits! Look forward to more! -Jahan

Not quite safe to say it will never reopen. But it is safe to say, if SFMM actually invested enough to get a guy out there with a ladder and a screwdriver to remove the sign, something is going on. I personally think that they are going to remove all reference to the ride, without actually removing it, like they did with the metro...its not on the map anymore. I dont think they could approve the budget to remove it. Oh trust me, the cuts are in more than just entertainment. Something I want to focus on, potentially, in the next update. Random guy with a Texan accent to passing supervisor: "So are you going to save me some money today?" -Jahan

Yea.... ...I hate to break it to you, but your train wouldn't make it through a turn. -Jahan

I know. I'm in the industry. -Jahan

Your correct! Great attention to detail! Anyway, thanks for the awesome trip report, as always! -Jahan