Token Yankee Guy Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 (I'm putting my El Toro review at the top so if anyone just wants to read it, they don't need to read everything else to get to it) I actually had a bit of mixed feelings with this coaster. I heard a lot of people saying how the airtime is much more intense than Superman: Ride of Steel, but when I rode it, it felt that it had the same amount of airtime experience as Superman: Ride of Steel. So for me it's a bit hard to tell which ride beats the other one. But I will say that the back seat of El Toro is a lot of fun and the hill that goes over Rolling Thunder really does throw you out of your seat. Also I couldn't believe how smooth and quiet the coaster was for a wooden coaster, those pre-fabricated tracks are really really nice. (Now the rest of the TR) From Wednesday until Today I was down at Pennsylvania so I could hit up Knoebels and Six Flags Great Adventure. But with many problems on Wedensday, I botched trying to get to Knoebels and just went straight to my grandparents house to hit up SFGAdv on Thursday. And it's a damn good thing I didn't try getting to Knoebels on Wednesday because I found out today they were flooded anyways. On Wednesday, I originally planned on driving down to PA at 8am, but due to the combination of heavy downpours, my car deciding it wanted it's transmission flushed, and locking my keys in the car at the house, I didn't leave until 4pm, and by that time the skies had cleared up and I just went directly down to my grandparents house. On Thursday we got over to SFGAdv and I noticed their premium parking is $20, that's $5 dollars cheaper than SFNE's, so my friend Hunter and I shelled out the extra 5 bucks to park closer to the gate so we can get our Gold Flash Pass which proved to be very useful. During our time at the park, the crowds were moderate, both Kingda Ka and El Toro had maybe a hour and 1/2 wait and both coasters were running two trains, so that wasn't all that bad. Another thing that was really cool was when Hunter and I boarded the Congo Rapids, one of the ride supervisors that was their noticed my TPR T-Shirt and he commented how he's visited the site before, so I thought that was cool and we went on our merry way on the raft ride to get completely drenched. When we got off we ran into him again (His name was Adam if I'm correct) and he asked me how our day was and how the operations were going, and I said that they were going well. Then he asked me if we had ridden Nitro yet, we said 'yes' and he asked if we wanted to ride it again. So he walked us up to Nitro and put us on one of the trains without waiting. (We sat in a row where there was only two riders anyway) Now onto the photos And to end the TR, a picture of turtles having sex while families are watching Another Skyline shot That girl and her b/f have the coolest hair ever! Plus we rode behind them on Rolling Thunder and they were really cool and funny. Hunter got really wet on Water Effect. Thanks to me wearing my TPR-Shirt, Adam (i hope that's his name) one of the ride supervisors gave us direct access onto Nitro for a ride. I really appreciated the generosity, thanks man! Boardwalk section of the park from the Skyway. Typical El Toro photo from across the lake photo. That's bull how SFGAdv has the Pilsner refill, yet SFNE discontinued theirs El Toro station. Plus, I love the way how they control the flow of people into the station so it doesn't get packed in there. El Toro looks better with the station than Viper ever did El Toro Sign Both Kingda Ka and El Toro standing proud over Rolling Thunder They now have you wait at the fountain and they don't let you go after the dance number which by the way has a better song than SFNE's dance number Walking to the main gate of SFGAdv on Thursday Finally on the road driving down Route 8 Expressway on Wednesday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imdrunk Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Great trip update! The turtle-on-turtle action shot really added a bit of sophication that most PTRs lack. I'm moving to CT in August and can't wait to go back to SFNE. I've not visited other east coast parks like Lake Compounce, SFGA, the PA parks, etc. I can't wait to get up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike541x Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Cool Photo tr. That last pic makes me laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screamomatic Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Is it worth it to get all the Extra Stuff like parking closer to the gate and Gold Flash-Passes? When driving into the parking lot, did you notice any Passenger Drop-off places? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK-N-Mrc00l Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Lol, I saw that girl with the hair when I was in line for El Toro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IwantRevenge Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Was the line any shorter for El Toro with 2 trains running? i'm gonig tomorrow and I'm jsut curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpengeist04 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Is it worth it to get all the Extra Stuff like parking closer to the gate and Gold Flash-Passes? When driving into the parking lot, did you notice any Passenger Drop-off places? There's a drop off place right before the parking booths. It's on the left hand side, you'll see a sign. Edit: BTW, nice PTR. ...and I agree that the air time on El Toro is about the same intensity as Superman (SFNE), which isn't a bad thing. With that said, I still think the hill over Rolling Thunder is the best moment of airtime I've experienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
307 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Just wondering, how much did the gold fast pass thing cost? And is it worth getting, or is waiting in line a better option? Also, good report. I always like reading about what people think of a new coaster to properly gauge my expectations. Yours is the first review that didn't spew about how amazingly awesome and better than everything else and omg wickid the coaster was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpengeist04 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Here's the price breakdown for SFGAdv. http://www.lo-qusa.com/flashpass/sfgaps.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
307 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Holy crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Token Yankee Guy Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 Lol, I saw that girl with the hair when I was in line for El Toro. Did you see me? Probably not, heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECZenith Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Wow, I can't believe the prices of the qbot. I will definately be waiting in the standby queue for ET. I'm hoping I won't have a huge wait since I'm going on a weekday and now they've got both trains cycling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK-N-Mrc00l Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Lol, I saw that girl with the hair when I was in line for El Toro. Did you see me? Probably not, heh Nope, don't think I saw you. heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Token Yankee Guy Posted July 1, 2006 Author Share Posted July 1, 2006 Wow, I can't believe the prices of the qbot. I will definately be waiting in the standby queue for ET. I'm hoping I won't have a huge wait since I'm going on a weekday and now they've got both trains cycling. Those have always been the prices for the Q-Bot for a few years, they haven't gone up. As for the Standby line, expect maybe a hour 1/2 wait I believe. Around the same time for Kingda Ka too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpengeist04 Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 On a busy day it's worth it. I rather pay 90 dollars and get on 20-25 rides, than 40 dollars and get on 7 or 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro1118 Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Token Yankee Guy- I think the reason you felt S:RoS and ET have same airtime intensity-wise is because Toro's airtime is much more sustained. For example, S:RoS has 2 hills that pull -1.1 G's: the 3rd camelback (one with ET-like sustained airtime) and the hill connecting 1st and 2nd helices. They are the 2 strongest airtime moments on the ride. The 2nd hill with -1.1 G's is much more abrupt, and feels stronger intensity wise, but in reality they are same. Since ET's hills have more sustained airtime, it takes away from the fact that how intense they are. Nice TR, great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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