SFDK, Great America, and SFDK Trip Report

[Sticky Nicky]

Hello Everybody, this is my first real Trip Report so it is probably not perfect.

 

Saturday, August 25, 2007 - Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

 

Okay, so we got to the park around 11:30am, prosseced my Big Six Pass and headed over to Medusa to start things off.

 

Medusa-5 rides

Medusa was my first floorless coaster and first B&M sitdown that I have been on. We waited about 45 minutes in line and then about another 20 waiting for the front row. It was a really fun ride and I wanted to ride it all day but the line was quite long. I really loved the Zero-G roll(This was my first Zero-g Roll on a sitdown coaster). When I came back later, I sat in the back and you get airtime all the way from the top of the first drop until about halfway up the loop in the back.

 

Overall this ride was very smooth and the only time I hit my head of the OTSR was in the middle of the Sea Serpent. Overall I rate this ride a 9.5/10

 

 

Next, I wanted to check out the line for Kong as from Medusa it didn't look to long. I was mistaken. The wait was over 90 minutes due to the very hidden Switchbacks. So we decided that we would come back to Kong later. We then went to Cobra.

 

Cobra-1 ride

 

Cobra was a really fun, and really loud, family coaster. It has lots of curves and even some airtime. Definitely take your kids on this ride as they would love it.

 

Overall, I would rate this ride a 6/10

 

After we were done with Cobra, we decided it was time to ride Roar or we would never hear the end of it.

 

Roar-3 rides

 

Roar was a very intimidating ride ride for me because It just happens to be a GCI coaster, and since I loved Renegade at my home park, Valleyfair, I had great expectations from this ride. It ended up being fun, but was no Renegade. First off, the whole ride looks as though it has not seen any Tender Loving care as the trains we missing paint in spots and the wood on the train wassplintering and very dull looking. I was also expecting this ride to be smooth like Renegade. I know I haven't ridden many woodies, this was by far the jerkiest ride I have ever been on. I came off with a slight headache. We came back later and sat in the back, but that was twice as jerky. It wans;t really bad, it just seemed to be laking upkeep. We also got the last train of the night getting on at about 8:30.

 

Overall, I would Rate this ride 7.8/10

 

So after this, it was about 2:00pm, and we were starting to get hungry. I was planning on buying a souvenir cup for 9 dollars, but I got an even better deal. A chicken strip basket with fries and souveniror cup was 12 dollars, so we ordered that. Well, it was going to take 15 minutes to defrost the chicken so we asked if we could get a hot dog instead, and he said yes. So we got 2 hot dogs, 2 basket of fries, and on souvenir cup for 12 dollars. So we got 20 dollars worth of food, plus a free souvenir cup.

 

After that we decided to get flash passes as everything was so busy. For $17, we got 7 passes and a $10 off ride on Skycoaster. The first thing we used the Flash passes for was Boomerang.

 

Boomerang-2 rides

 

This particular boomerang was my second one ever, the first being Elitches in Denver, and this one was surprisingly smooth. The wait was about 1 hr. 15 min. and I got on in about 3.3 seconds! I was accually fun.

 

Overall, I rate this 8.5/10

 

I then decided to go do kong with my flash pass. I get there and there is no sign for flass pass holders to enter, so I just assume it is through the exit like Boomerang. So I walk up to the exit and tell them I have a Flash Pass and they say that they will come and get me. So I wait about 25 min. and finally go back up and ask. The opperator told me to go over to the regular line and enter there. So I am thinking that that can't be right. I do it anyways and I hear "Hey where are you gonings" from everyone so I have to continue to tell them about my Flash Pass. So halfway through the line there is a FP sign. I go under that and get in line for the first row.

 

Kong-1 ride

 

Kong was somoother than Denver's Mind Eraser but it was still a Hang n'Bang and while it was still not perfectly smooth, was a fun ride. I would rate this 7.5/10

 

Next we used our FPs on Medusa for the back row. Read review about about the airtime these particular seat carry on the first drop.

 

We also went back and did Roar on more time and then waited in the then 45 minute Boomerang line. After Boomerang, I went and did three consecutive rides on Medusa in the back seat, front seat, and the 5th row, where I was assigned. After that it was 7:37 and the park closed at 8:00, so we alked back to Roar and got in line at about 7:50 and got the final train of the night at about 8:20pm.

 

Overall, the park had great, big and clean midways but the food service should not take 30 minutes for 2 parties ahead of you get food. PArk Rating: 7/10

Coasters overall: 8/10

 

Some notes

 

-V2 was closed all day due to glitches in the computers. I have known this happening earlier this year, but how has it run in the years past?

 

-The park probably had at least 20,00 people there, it was P-A-C-K-E-D.

 

-Not alot of Batherooms

 

-Too many Papa John's, you could see one from another one, Cold Stone, and Ben and Jerrys.

 

 

Video will be up in the next week hopefully.

Thanks for reading

Next Up is Great America

Medusa.mp4

Medusa video

Medusa.mp4

Medusa video

[sixflagsguy5]

It's too bad that it was crowded and that V2 was closed. I had never heard much about Medusa (west) before, so it was nice hearing about how good it was.

[Sean Menefee]

-V2 was closed all day due to glitches in the computers. I have known this happening earlier this year, but how has it run in the years past?

 

V2's been a bit hit or miss this season, but no worse then usual you could say. It's been up more then down from what I've seen on my visits this year.

 

The park probably had at least 20,00 people there, it was P-A-C-K-E-D.

It was Gospel day at Discovery Kingdom. Hope you had a Hyphyluja time in the Pray Area. (Not my words, but people who worked at the park had a long afternoon from what I understand.) Sorry to hear it was packed for your visit, but it still sounds like you had fun from your TR.

 

Anyways, it's always nice to hear what people think of DK. I hope your visit to GA will be a bit less crowded.

 

-Sean

[darklingscribe]

Sorry to hear about the park being so packed. Usually you can get all your rides done two hours after opening (that is if they are running more than one train on Roar and Kong) and then spend the busiest part of the day going to the shows and doing the interactive animal stuff, then, once the place clears out in the evening, get all the rerides you want.

 

For Great America don't overlook the water park. It may be small, but the slides that they do have are really fun. Especially the one with the bunny hop. As for the coasters. If your are dead set on getting all of the credits I'd say head to the back of the park first (stopping by Invertigo along the way) and hit the low capacity stuff like the wild mouse and the kiddie credit. The park is one big circle so it's easy to plan out your day otherwise.

 

Top Gun's line moves fast, but is always long.

 

Vortex is down more than any other B&M I've encountered so be sure to ride it ASAP once it opens.

 

The Demon rarely has a line longer than 10min.

 

If you thought Roar was bad I can't wait to hear your opinion of the Grizzly.

[dpxtreme]

^It's true Demon rarely has a line during the week. On Saturdays the line gets up to 1 1/2 hours long. On Sundays probably like 45 minutes.

 

Definately do Invertigo in the morning because by the mid-day, it has the longest wait time because of the one train. And IMO, since their is Mad Mouse in Valleyfair, to save time, you could skip Psycho Mouse due to the fact that they are exactly the same thing.

[KGA29]

If you thought Roar was bad I can't wait to hear your opinion of the Grizzly.

 

I agree! If you thought that Kong was better than Roar, then you better wear football pads for Grizzly. It's 3x as bumpy at least. Just warning you.

 

Have fun at GA. I agree to hit Invertigo, Top Gun, and Vortex first. Then if you want, Survivor because that line gets up to an hour on weekends. Psycho Mouse is really long too. And the water park doesn't fill up until after noon.

[Kingbooba]

Kong had a 90 minute wait? Boomerang hada 75 min wait? And Medusa only had a 45 min wait? Wow.

[Sticky Nicky]

8/26/07

 

Okay, I'll make this short as it is pretty late.

 

Great America was a really nice, clean park. There were tons of flowers and trees, but this is only Cedar Fair's second year(No time for concreate adding just quite yet).

 

We got there around 10:05am, and I got my Valleyfair Season pass to work out just fine through the gates. We first headed to Top Gun, where there was about a 15 minute wait.

 

Top Gun- 6 rides

 

Top Gun was my third B&M invert (THe first two being Batman-SFGAm, and Raptor at CP). I don't no how to place among the three as they are all intense and fun but I guess Rator would be first because of the length, and the Top Gun and Batman tied for second.

 

My first ride was in the back row. There was never a dull or slow moment on the whole ride. There was not a single time I ever hit my head on the restraint. It is really smooth after 14 years. I would rate this 8.7/10

 

Next we headed to the back portion of the park for Invertigo, Drop Zone, Grizzly, and Survivor. First up was Invertigo.

 

Invertigo-1 ride

 

Invertigo was my second favorite roller coaster at the park behind Top Gun. We got in line and waited 2 trains to ride. This is my first inverted Boomerang coaster and it was a lot smoother then the couple of other Boomerangs I have been on, Discovery Kingdom's and Elitch's. I would rate it8/10

 

After Invertigo it was 11:20 and Grizzly did not open until 12:00 so we wnet on Drop Zone to kill time. Five minutes later we were off the ride and waiting for Survivor.

 

Survivor-1 ride

 

I know I don't usually rate flat rides, this one stood out. I loved the spinning, fire, water, and airtime on the ride. I feel as though every park should have one of these inside of them. I rate this ride 7.5/10

 

After Survivor, it was about 11:50 and the first grizzly train with people had just left the station so we went there next.

 

Grizzly-1 ride

 

Three words describe this coaster: WORST COASTER EVER. I don't no why it is so jerky because it rarley goes fast and is always slowing down at every turnaround, which there was about 5 in this coaster. This is the first one where I have goten at headache after ridding. I rate this1.5/10

 

After Grizzly, we got some food to eat for lunch. After that we went to Vortex.

 

Vortex-4 rides

 

I don't know what you guys are talking about this ride becing closed throughout the day, because it never closed once. Anyways, This ride is a little rough around turns in the front, but in the back, it is vibrations and headbanging. I learned to stick my neck out far enough so my head dosen't hit the OTSR so much. I also loved the airtime you would get at the very end if you jumped. I rate this 7/10

 

Since Pshyco Mouse was closed all day, we went around reriding things and doing other flats like the Endeavor and the log flume. I like the LF because it took you through the waterpark. we finally left aorund 6:30.

 

 

Up next Day 2 at Discovery Kingdom

 

I don't think I will post a video for this park, but stay tuned for one from DK later this week.

 

thanks for Reading.

[Sticky Nicky]

Check Out the Medusa Video in the first post

[KGA29]

Kong had a 90 minute wait? Boomerang hada 75 min wait? And Medusa only had a 45 min wait? Wow.

 

My guess is that Kong was only running 1 train. Medusa has a much larger capacity than those 2. Boomerang's lines can be killer on a Saturday.

[Team Thriller]

I lived only around 45 minutes from SFDK, (Back when it was SFMW). Medusa is the best B&M coaster ever. Roar was VERY good when I was there, it must have changed. V2 was very good, it was the scariest coaster at the time (It lost to 'X' SFMM). When I was there, Zonga was running, it was O.K, better than Kong. Kong was pretty Vekoma. Boomerang was pretty good too.

 

Glad you had a good time, Sticky Nicky. (A for your first Update, it was EXTREMELY good. I loved how you rated all of the coasters and talked about each one. Keep it up.

[Team Thriller]

When I went to Great America (back when it was still Paramounts) my favorite ride was Top Gun. I was mad because I couldn't ride Stealth. Vortex was my first stand-up (I like Riddlers Revenge better), it was worth riding. Invertigo is overrated. Its fun, but it's not "Oh, my GOD". Grizzly was pretty bad. The Demon was pretty good for an Arrow. Survivor wasn't built yet.

I didn't get to ride the Physco Mouse, due to long lines.

 

Maybe I'll get out there sometime again.