It's still running!!! SfGam 5/7/05

[DejaVu The Ride]

Date: Saturday, May 7, 2005.

Weather: Cloudy or sunny with cool temps and a short period of light drizzle.

Time at park: 8:57am-8:35pm.

Who?: Me, Ally, Jerome. Dan left at 4 while Zach(m_force_4_ever), and Eric joined us around 4:30.

Rides closed for the day: Hometown Fun Machine, Condor, King Chaos, Roaring Rapids, IMS

Crowds: Heavy("Overflow" lot was used and it was Scouts Day, Music in the Parks, and there were prom groups at the park). Lots of buses.

 

So I went to prom on Friday night with Ally in Itasca. It was for Elgin-Larkin. That was lots of fun, but you guys probably only want to hear about the day at the park.

 

We arrived at about 8:57 at the drop off zone and went straight to admissions. Thats where we were about 7 or 8 people back in the early admission line. Saw Dan and Jerome and others. Talked around, got surveyed, had the park close around 3 times before it opened , and heard the "good" rendition of the National Anthem.(Dan is death. )

 

We were let in at about 9:30 and we went to the Hometown Square chains. We waited as the herd behind us grew. We were heading to Vu. We also noticed Whizzer testing early and were informed that they were going to open the day with the third train running empty to get the required amount of tests. We were also informed that Vu was down for about 2 hours on Friday night. (I guess it deserves at least one major breakdown. ) The worker out front did a spiel about no running and then heading to the ride of choice once all chains were done. Only one of those were listened to. I guess it was a fair race.

 

I ended up getting second to Vu' right behind Dan and we got first dispatch in 1A. I heard the great new spiel and we were off. It was a great first ride of the day. BTW, it wasn't even a full train. When we returned to the station, we went over to 2A and 2B and re-rode. Again a great but a little more rough ride. No one in our row, so another re-ride. First three trains of the day! Our group was no made up of Me, Ally, Jerome, and Dan.

 

Next we headed over to the Demon where I rode in 6:1. It was running 2 train op and there was no wait in the station. We almost weren't allowed to re-ride, but the op knew better. So yeah, we got two quick and relatively smooth rides on the Demon. Next up was Viper where it was a couple train wait for 1:3. It was running great and the ride is actually different than in the past. I don't know what it is. Just different kind of air in different places. 1 ride with a 2 train op.

 

We noticed Bull's Teal train was just being added(10:40 or so) which resulted in a little line, so we went to walk-on at Giant Drop. Great drop and awesome view of the waterpark! Bull was next because the line died down a bit. It was about a 10/15 minute line for the back row. 3 train op. It was running pretty good!

 

We next headed for a short flat ride fix with Richochet and Chubasco. We all rode Richochet which had about a one cycle wait. It was good and then Dan and I rode Chucbasco. Let me just say that this was the best Chubasco ride ever! My head felt like it was going to fall off. A ride with Dan on this ride is not for the weak of heart or stomach.

 

Since we noticed American Eagle Blue was open for the season, we headed there next. The wait was a 2 train wait in the station, but since the second train was nowhere in site, it resulted in a little longer wait than normal. Nice shinny new Blue train! Let's just say that the new tracking made for a smooth lift hill and a nice trimmed ride. We went back around for a short 2 train wait for American Eagle Red. 2 trains running and we got a ride on the nice shinny new red train. Too bad I almost got a little too excited and went through the air gates a little too early to get a seat. oops!

 

Next was Iron Wolf which we ended up waiting 5-10 minutes for the back row of the bad train. Oh well, it was still a great ride with a 2 train op! We wanted to ride the train(like everytime we rode Wolf today), but we ended up missing it(like every other time we were at Wolf.) So next we headed over to Hometown Square to first get my parking pass(which could be bought at the parade doors) and then to eat pizza at the Firehouse. Great food and pretty fast service. No napkins that I could see though. We all talked and had a fun time.

 

Next up was Sky Trek Tower(which didn't even have the song this time) but Dan filled in for the spiel. It was a walk-on BTW. Next was Batman The Ride where the wait was into the Gotham City Park. Not too bad of a wait. Maybe about 25-30 minutes for back row. It was running great!

 

It was time for yet another Iron Wolf ride because lines were actually long for everything else. The wait was about 20 minutes for another ride on the cruddy train. I really got beat up on this one! Next up was another Raging Bull ride in the back row.Wait was about 25 minutes(because one train got stuck on the MCBR for a little bit) and again, it was another great ride. (BTW, saw John.) Now we headed to Guest Relations for some fun and then headed back to the Columbia Carousel(Top). We waited one cycle and were let on. Fun times! Dan had to leave now, so he left and we rode a couple flats. We waited maybe 2 cycles for East River Crawler and got a spinny ride. Next was Whirligig where it was "fun" to say the least. Now we met up with Zach and Eric and we went to wait for V2. It was about a 20-25 minute wait for a ride in row 13. The ride e-stopped during our wait in the swtichbacks. I don't think it broke down, because it was basically a system re-set and they let that train re-ride without getting off.

 

After our ride, it started to drizzle for just a bit and we headed for another Iron Wolf ride. This time we got the "good" train and waited about 15 minutes for a relatively smooth ride. Bull was calling again and we decided to wait for the front since its queue was pretty short. We ended up waiting 15/20 minutes for front and saw John again. Viper was next where we were greeted with a 15-20 minute wait for row 1:3 again.(Zach's new money spot and Viper. He didn't believe me that you actually got ejector air in that row! 8) )

 

It was now time for Whizzer. It had a short 10 minute queue and was running all 3 trains with passengers! And it is only the second weekend of operation! (If only Demon would get its third on soon and Cajun with cars 5-7 then the park's coasters will be at highest capacity.) BTW, Whizzer was running great with the trim on not as much as opening day. Giant Drop was next where we waited 2 cycles. On the one before us, someone dropped there shoe on purpose about 50-70 feet above ground. Let's just say that they shoe hit the ground VERY hard and the ops did nothing.

 

We wanted to ride Bull a few times, but it still had at least a 15 minute wait, so we headed to Vu to see everyone leaving the line. I asked a girl if she was "told" to leave or if she "chose" to leave. She "chose" to leave so we hopped in line just before the ride closed sign appeared out front. People kept leaving the line and we had some fun with it. Someone's restraint would not open and it took about 15 minutes once we made it to the station to re-open. Everyone cheered! The station was full of energy! We opted for a ride toward the back, but I noticed that if we planned it right, we could get the second to last train of the night. Ally was holding one row, while I was in the other. We went in hers to make it for the second to last ride of the night! But wait. Why did I want second to last train out? So we could fill the last train of the night too! We had 2 GREAT "night" rides to end the day.(35 or so minute in all.)

 

So we walked out to the exit and thought we would call it a night. I was tired(because of prom) but I guess we all decided to meet at Burger King.(We decided after Jerome left but saw him there anyways!) We talked and had some fun for awhile. What a weird restroom situation. I wasn't able to figure out which bathroom was which so I almost touched the Braile dots to figure it out(I don't know Braile. ) Thank god for the girls walking out of their restroom! ) We left about 10:30 or so.

 

What a great day!

 

Random notes:

1. There is a new national anthem sung by a girl. She was pretty good and even went from real "low" to real "high".(Yes Dan, that is normal. )

2. There was continued work on the new games in SWT.

3. "Are you guys ready to have some fun? Great cause DejaVu is ready in 3-2-1!" New spiel at Vu'.

4. The Whizzer crew was very good, but please don't complain about stacking. The train was ready to leave early, but they looked as if they couldn't send the train until another cleared a certain part of the track.(3 train op) They were also very interactive which was cool.

5. Strength game is now open next to Aunt Martha's.

6. Nice flowers being planted.

7. The DDR is hooked up in the County Fair arcade.

8. Saw the Hurricane Harbor theming behind the SWT ampitheater. It includes a sailboat and some fountains.

9. The funniest thing of the day. This kid saw the fastlane sign for Batman.(The sign is also next to a bathroom.) The kid said, "Mommy, look! They have fastlane for the bathroom too!"

10. Giant Drop is now using all 6 airgates. It worked out pretty well while I was there.

11. S:UF got yet another late start.

12. A mechanic was working on King Chaos. The ropes and barrel that were in the back row last week are now gone!

13. Logger's Run opened up in the afternoon.

14. Hometown Fun Machine did not open at all, even though it wasn't on the ride closed list. Mechanics were all over it all day and appeared to take a part at the base of the ride off to work on it. (It has seemed to be closed a lot so far this year.)

15. They will have various SWT shows throughout the summer including a diving show, a Paul Bunyan act, and an alligator show. There is a sign of all events outside of the SWT ampitheater.

16. The spiel for park closing came on 3 different times before we went through the gates.

17. The park spiels were a little off as the spiels for "10 minutes for showtime" for Nascar Experience were too close together.

18. Batman was stopped on the lift at one point, as was Eagle.

19. American Eagle Blue's ugly brown wood was painted blue at the top lift area.

20. DejaVu used a grouper in the afternoon.

21. There were a few closed shops and restaurants at the park.

22. Never got on the train.

23. Lots of excitement throughout the park(like the commercials promise. )

24. I kept saying "It's still running.", everytime I saw DejaVu run. Let's just say that it was a lot, so it gave a great title to my trip report.

25. I am now at 14 Vu rides in 2 park visits and am really understanding this "great ride". You can really feel the G's, especially during the second half of the ride.

26. The ops and other employees are fantastic this year. The guest interaction is great!

27. We saw them crown one of the family slides and do a lot of work today.

28. Hurricane Mountain, the family slides, the 6-slide complex, and Hurricane Bay all seem to be structurally complete.

29. Wahoo Racers are going to be complete by next weekend and Skull Island and Castaway Creek should be finished real soon.

30. The entrance to Hurricane Harbor is looking great and the path leading to the new waterpark is now mostly paved.(with asphalt )

31. BTW, DejaVu's paint job is complete and looks amazing! Look at the catch cars for a nice surprise.(A green flame is on each side.)

 

If I think of more, I will add them later. If anyone ever is at the park and wants to meet, that would be cool.

 

Until next time...

 

DejaVu "Elissa, you're definately getting your credit on this Vu'! " The Ride

[M_Force_4_ever]

^good TR, Im glad I could hang out with you guys, it was a really great day..."its still running!" lol.

[DejaVu The Ride]

BTW, American Eagle's transfer tracks were re-done.

[M_Force_4_ever]

^didnt even notice that, I enjoyed getting stuck on Eagle Red's lifthill though.

[DRWP2005]

HH is starting to take shape but they still have a ton of work to do there...It appears that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done on the slidetowers, and a few slide pieces left to be put up...not to mention starting to fill everything up, which isn't a fast task, as it takes a while to fill parks like this up.