haiderodes

^Very strange considering Woody Woodpecker's Nutcoaster came before ROTM.

I remember hearing that was the reason for adding the seatbelts in the first place...rider comfort and not just saftey.

^ They tell you to buckle the orange seatbelts first. Then they come around and check the harness and the second seatbelt. Since the harnesses aren't locked in the up position, many people pull the harness down right away. I think the orange seatbelts as is, are fine. Granted they are really long so they have to make sure all of them are buckled before they can dispatch.

Close... When you reenter the station on a normally operating Boomerang, the brakes are applied as you move backwards through the station and are applied again to bring the train to a final stop moving forward. There is no rocking back and forth. The catch car doesnt come down from the top of the first spike until the train is parked in the station. It doesn't actually "lock" onto the train until the dispatch and dispatch enable are pressed by the operators at the start of the next cycle.

^ I waited around for about 20 minutes (didn't want to lose my place in line), but then they started an evac and I knew it would be forever, so I left. Not sure why they didnt just pull it back up with the people on.

^Exactly...haha! I don't know why someone would think this never happens, they installed the evac platform right there for that very reason. It happened when I was about to get on it back on Sunday 4/13. There was no rocking back and forth for any length of time though, those brakes were very efficient at stopping the train.

Goliath @ SFMM - Sunday 4/13/08

^^I asked Elissa about it a couple of months ago after I saw them in the Job Fair update. At that time she said that they were just used for training, but they were thinking about bringing them out. That's too bad to hear that they didn't discuss it further at WCB. It makes so much sense to me from both an operational and guest service standpoint...especially if people might be avoiding rides they don't think they can fit on when there might be an accomodation for them. By providing a sign they can take some of the pressure (if there is any) off the operators to move people around the trains. I for one was suprised to hear about these special seats on Scream as I haven't ridden it yet and there's nothing indicating they'd have them.

I think a great solution for this would be to bring out that test seat they have floating around "backstage" and have a sign next to it suggesting larger riders wait for rows 4 and 5.

Anyone know if this ride only had seven-car trains when it was in New Orleans? Why did they decide to go for the shorter train?

I've been thinking about making a trip up to SFGam myself. All the routes using public transportation seem to take a really long time. Having been to Chicago once before, and knowing how the transit system is, I'm thinking of either renting a car or just using an airport shuttle. Since you say renting a car is out for you, I suggest using the shuttle if it fits in your price range. I found Airport Express which has a rate of $47 each way and itll take you directly to the park. I think its cheaper if theres more than one person with you.

I'd be happy with them bringing back the banners that used to hang from the ceiling in the Ninja station, you can see where one was simply cut off.

^ I was wondering why they had all the balloons and streamers flying around the station. Line was too long to ride, but I did see all of that from the parking lot.

I made my third park visit of 2008 this weekend. Saturday, I didn't make it down there until about 3p. Man was it hot and packed! Had to park in the last row of the lot way behind Scream. Ended up only doing three rides as the heat and crowds were a bit much. Left around 5p. Sunday, I made it before opening so I could get a start on things before the crowds materialized. Wanted to do Superman first since its been a few years since I last went on that. Was the only person on the first launch and was joined by a few for the second. As I'm leaving Superman I hear the distinctive B&M roar...could it be Riddler? Saturday the train was still parked on the lift, but could it be open today? As I descended suicide hill...YES IT IS OPEN! Got two rides in the last row without getting off. Could very well have stayed on longer, but I wanted to do as much as I could before the crowds made it back there. The good... All coasters were running two trains (that could of course). Would have liked to see three trains on the ones that could have, but at least there was no one train operation. All the water rides were open, and because of the heat, they seemed to help absorb the lines. The not-so-good... Both on this trip and my last one in February, I noticed queue management struggling on some rides. There are multiple lines at Viper, but people congregate into one. When you try to use the others, people give you dirty looks and say stuff like you are cutting until the ride ops make an announcement...if they do. Same thing on Ninja - that ride has two lines once you get to the staircase, why not use both? This would prevent the line spilling into the midway (especially when the line really isn't THAT long). Took my first ride on Deja Vu thanks to the single-rider line...what a god-send! For a Sunday that wasn't all that crowded, the regular line was still about an hour and a half. Rode once and rejoined the singles line again, but of course standing at the airgates waiting for the cycle to finish, it breaks down at the bottom of tower two. Decide to wait a few minutes, but no-go...evac. Jahan and crew come out to help the people off. Still happy I got at least one ride in. Even the foreign employees are now getting into the "texting while working the rides game". One reoccuring thing I seemed to hear people talking about was the ride removal situation. People were talking both to employees and amongst themselves about the rides they have taken out. For the most part it seems that people didnt miss the ones they took out (aside from Freefall). Another comment that hit me was the flat ride situation. I overhead people saying that they wouldn't wait in line for something they could just ride at the fair. To an extent i agree. Especially if you paid money and drove some distance, it would make sense to have those kinds of attractions you can't necessarily find anywhere. I guess what I'm saying is that any future flat ride additions probably should be unique in nature to get people interested, otherwise there is no point in adding any.

Aww I hope Riddler is back up this weekend as I'm thinking of making the drive on Saturday.

^ Right now most stations around town are at $3.35 for regular unleaded.

I haven't been to Castles n Coasters in about 7 years or so, but from my past experiences they have a rule about not dispatching Desert Storm until 15 minutes pass or they have a full train which ever comes first. Oh and Roberto's is good food and its also a chain, they have them all over Southern Nevada and California.

I really enjoy watching these races on tv. Its always scary when they "nick" the side of the pylons.

Great photos. Sounds like WCB was THE event to be at. I have yet to attend any sort of "enthusiast event" but this makes me want to!

The only ride with a wait was Superman which we ended up skipping due to one train operation and slow dispatch. The line was down the stairs and coming down the hill. All the others were walk-on unless you really wanted the front row. Everything was one train operation except Goliath which had a two train op.

^ I was just going to say that. Pacific Park is not a particularly spectacular amusement park. I been to some FEC's with more depth. On the other hand, plently of tv shows and films have used the park over the years. Its relatively non-descript look lends perfectly for those "establishment" shots you see all the time.

So I finally got to go to SFOG yesterday (Sunday). As I mentioned before the plan was to go Saturday, but we woke up to snow! It didnt stick of course and stopped by 11a. I tried calling the park, but no one answered so my sister and I decided to go for it and give it a shot. We get there and they have a couple of workers turning people around and telling them that the park is closed. Now my sister lives in Decatur and while it was snowing and windy over there it was only partly cloudy and sunny out at Six Flags, but still no go...everything was locked up! We ended up getting there Sunday around 2p and had plenty of time to ride due to a lack of lines. They must have only filled four or five rows of parking!

It looks like a cute mini waterpark. All the attractions seem to be in mini-mode...except for "The Wedge"-style slide. Look how small that wave pool is!

Thanks for the suggestion. I think we'll just have to play it by ear. I do know for a fact I am not missing SFOG...im flying across the country for it dammit! We went to SFMM with a friend back in January with a morning temperature of about 45 degrees. Those first rides on Goliath were COLD, but that was with no wind chill. If its windy at the same time, that's rough. Plus I'm gonna be with my sister who likes rides, but isnt a diehard fan so I can wait the extra day if necessary.

SO in checking the weather for my upcoming trip to Atlanta I see that Saturday has a forcast of *gasp* 38 degrees, wind and snow flurries! My question...how good is SFOG and weather, especially the cold and wind? Would it be better to go Sunday instead? The forcast for Sunday is 56 and sunny.