Photo TR: Sam's Spring Break So Cal Trip!

[Goliath513]

This week was my spring break, so my brother, my dad, and I decided to take another trip to southern California. Now normally we go to SFMM, but with X2 not opening until 2 months along with there being nothing new since our last visit, we decided to go to DLR and KBF instead. We drove down on Easter Sunday and got to the hotel in Anaheim where we stayed for the duration of our visit. The following day we went to DLR & DCA. My dad and I had not been there in 5 years and that time it was raining so it wasn't the best.

 

 

Day 1 (3/24): DLR & DCA

 

 

We got the park at opening at 8. First we headed off to Indiana Jones to pick up fast passes for later in the day before going to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for our first ride of the trip.

 

 

The morning rush. Little did we know at the time, the crowds were to get MUCH worse.

 

 

After riding BTMR, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, and Indy, we headed over to Tomorrowland to ride the new Space Mountain.

 

For all you People Mover/Rocket Rods fanboys. I even saw a worker up in the station doing some work up there. *starts rumor*

 

Fast pass queue to the ticket machines.

 

Line looked short at first, but looks were decieving.

 

Here it is!

 

Whatever this thing on top is, it was operating for the morning.

 

 

My review of space Mountain 2005. I didn't notice much difference at first, but if I remember correctly, the queue was not enclosed in the building on the old version. The loading area looked very similar too. Now onto the ride, the operations were AMAZING! They cycled trains through at an unbelievable pace. Cedar Fair and Six Flags should motivate their workers to operate like this. This time about the coaster. This version seemed much faster and smoother than the original. I absolutely love how they had music playing for the duration of the ride to fit with the atmosphere. Enough of my reviews for now.

 

 

We then rode Star Tours, and also Buzz Lightyear (my first ride on that, and my score was a L3)

 

We ate lunch at the super crowded Tomorrowland Terrace. The food was good, but the wait, and crowds were horrible.

 

 

During lunch, the Jedi Training Academy performed.

 

"Meh" is all I have to say about it.

 

 

After lunch we got fast passes for Autopia before heading off to kill some time before we could come back to ride. We decided to ride the other track of the Matterhorn.

 

After Matterhorn and Autopia, we went over to Frontierland/New Orleans to hit up that side of the park. We rode Haunted Mansion, and Pirates while here.

 

To give you an idea of just how bad the crowds were.

 

 

 

Then went back to Toontown to get my credit on Go Gadget's Coaster

 

 

Confessions of a teenage credit wh*re

 

 

Around 4:30, we decided to go over to DCA.

 

 

We rode California Screamin' first. This coaster still ranks in my top 10 list!

 

Train

 

F***ing Mania

 

We ate pizza for dinner over near Mulholland Madness. I got the MM credit later that night. Oh and Tower of Terror is awesome.

 

And now for the light parade.

 

 

 

Afterwards we went over to Grizzly River for several night rides at the recommendation of my brother. When we got there, we met up with several of his friends who also happened to be there. Anyways, Grizzly River is definitely the best of the rapids rides I have ridden. We actually got wet unlike on Roaring Rapids at SFMM last year.

 

We rode Screamin once more before leaving.

 

Obligatory DCA shot. I'm still trying to get the ISO settings on my new camera to a level where pictures will turn out and yet not be too grainy and/or blurry.

 

 

 

 

I had a great first day at DLR. Day 2 PTR will be posted shortly.

[Goliath513]

Spring break so Cal trip Day 2 (3-25)

 

Today we went back to DLR. We arrived around 10 this time, but we found the park to be much more crowded than before.

 

 

We first headed off to Space Mountain to ride it and get fast passes for later before going to the subs to try out the new Nemo. Last time we rode this was back in 1998 just before it shut down. The line said only 90 minutes, but it turned out to be much worse in terms of time. Fortunately, we were standing in line behind two pretty girls who I struck up a conversation with for the duration of much of the line. This made the 2 hour wait worth it for me. We were sort of like "queue buddies" for the ride which we all agreed was not worth the wait. The actual ride was okay. Great references to the movie, and it was quite neat what they had done with it. Overall it was a pretty good ride; just not 2-hour-wait good. We got off Nemo around 1:30 and headed straight for lunch after saying goodbye to my two new friends.

 

 

My attempt at taking the picture of us didn't quite turn out well since Jenn's face did not get all the way into the view.

 

So I asked a passer by to take our picture instead. This picture brings hope to all those guys out there like me. If the shy, coaster obsessed, RCT2 & NL player, soon-to-be-ex-ACEr me, can meet girls like this and not fail, anyone can.

 

 

 

We ate lunch at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. I wish more amusement aprk food could be this good.

 

After lunch we decided to go over to Pirates, only to find that it was closed.

 

With Pirates closed, Frontierland/New Orleans Square was even more crowded than normal.

 

These just werent normal crowds, there was a higher concentration of people than trash cans in a Cedar Fair park. The park was so full today that one could not even see the ground they were walking on. Gridlock to the max. And just when we thought it couldn't get any worse...

 

 

 

 

 

wait for it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

175 f***ing minutes for Splash Mountain!?!?

 

That's like 3 hours. I don't even wanna know what Nemo's lines were like at the time.

 

Here I am, baffled by the amount of crowding.

 

 

I wonder if this high density of people violates any fire codes or anything like that.

 

 

We headed back to the midway to find guides directing guests due to the crowding extremity.

 

At 3, we decided to go to Buzz, which turned out to have a decent line.

 

That's much better!

 

And as luck would have it, I met another cute girl while waiting in line. It turns out that she was from Colorado (and lives right near where I'm going to college there this fall!). We didn't have much time to talk because of the fast moving line, but I sure enjoyed those 10 minutes of conversation before getting on the ride. I actually wished the line could have been like Splash Mountain's so I could stay with her longer. OMFG she was so nice and so pretty! Oh wait, I'm supposed to be discussing my trip, not my successes with girls.

 

 

I have no pictures from the later afternoon, but we used our fast passes on Space Mountain around 4:30, right after going to the "Honey, I shrunk the audience" show Even though the show was funny, Rick Moranis will always be "Dark Helmet" of Spaceballs to me!

 

 

We went to DCA to ride Monsters, Screamin, and Grizzly Rapids to conclude our day.

 

Failed night shot of GR

 

That's better! But it wasn't that light out. I need some more work on my camera's night settings.

 

The ToT shot I didn't get the other night.

 

Is that what I think I see?! The first sign of a Cedar Fair buyout of Disney. "Flight Deck" has hit already. Soon to follow will be ToT renamed Backlot Drop Tower, and CS to be renamed Boardwalk Stunt Coaster.

 

And to conclude part 2, I leave you with this shot of the entrance to DCA

 

 

When might I be at this great resort, where dreams come true (and even a guy like me can meet pretty girls), again? Will it be less than 2 months? Or more than two years? I will just have to see...

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for part 3 (of 3), featuring KBF!

[Goliath513]

Day 3 (3-26): Knott's Berry Farm

 

After an early breakfast at Mimi's, we drove up north to KBF for the third and final day of our trip.

 

We weren't even in the park yet when we saw the first of Cedar Fair's world-famous trash cans.

 

Parking lot was empty at first.

 

Upon entry to the park, we headed back to Xcelerator where the park was deserted.

 

How many trash cans do you see in this photo?

 

We got 2 back to back rides on Xcelerator in the morning.

 

Does a shot get any more Cedar Fairish than this?

 

Unnecessarily high volume of trash cans in this park. Even for Cedar Fair it seemed like they overdid it, which is hard to believe.

 

On the subject of trash cans, I explained to my dad and brother about Cedar Fair and their park atmosphere destructive ways and trash cans. Once they understood my explanation, they realized just how funny (and lame) it is. For example, in a food court over near Wheeler Dealer bumper cars, my brother and I counted 16 bins in an area about the size of Xcelerator's station.

 

Back on topic.

 

Me in Xcel's station. (Photo by my dad)

 

Wheel porn for Intamin enthusiasts.

 

We then rode Supreme Scream twice.

 

Up next, Boomerang.

 

I have my "WTF am I doing to my brain by riding an old Vekoma" look.

 

 

Boomerang was quite good for a Vekoma of 18 years old. It might just be that because I'm so tall my head is above the restraints so I don't experience the head banging. My neck was a little sore though, but overall better than SFDK's Boomerang.

 

Perilous Plunge through the falls of Timber Mountain Log Ride. Great ride (log ride).

 

Missed the boat because of my slow camera.

 

How many shades of orange do you see here?

 

Windjammer power boats?

 

1 train operation combined with highest popularity = BAD. Not quite worth the wait for this forceless B&M.

 

Omgz! Pony Expres!111

 

The reason for the long line. Damn you Cedar Fair. Look to Disney for how to run rides efficiently.

 

Pony Express overview

 

Signature shot

 

My dad is somewhere on this train.

 

Screamin Swing was great. Every park should have one of these. SFMM, get one. Now!

 

As seen from Wheeler Dealer bumper cars.

 

I'll be back later to ride this or the first time!

 

 

We ate burgers at Coasters Restaurant for lunch.

 

Boomerang broke for a while

 

We took the afternoon to see some shows, but first, we rode Riptide. This top-spin kills SFDK's Voodoo in terms of intensity and thrills. Much better! First we headed over to the Mystery Lodge, a place we had never visited. That was truly an enlightening experience.

 

One more PE construction picture as seen over the wall from the Mystery Lodge. It looks like it will be just another generic Cedar Fair style station.

 

 

We then rode Ghostrider once before going to the Wild West Stunt Show. I have to admit, as great as the show is, it's just not the same with a giant B&M support sticking in the middle of it.

 

 

Next, we rode Sierra Sidewinder. It was a 45 minute wait for it. Overall with the ride, I was not too impressed. I wouldn't ever wait more than 10 minutes for it now that I have the credit.

 

It looked fun.

 

But looks can be deceiving. *yawn*

 

 

After SS, my brother and I waited 1 hour to ride Perilous Plunge. Unlike SS, PP was well worth the wait. The drop was just amazing!

 

While we dried off, we got in line for dinner at Mrs. Knott's Fried Chicken restaurant. The food here is amazing and no trip to Knott's is complete without it.

 

After we ate, we headed back into the park for some more coaster riding. Ghostider is even better at night than in the day! Next, I went over to Timberline Twister to get my credit on it. The ride op asked why someone my age would want to ride, so I just said I was with ACE and was there for the credit. Montezuma's Revenge was next with 3 consecutive rides on it. I wish there were more of these great Schwarzkops still operating. I'm still sad how CGA killed theirs.

 

Creative caption wanted.

 

I rode Jaguar once too at this time. I think it was sometime around 9:30. Finally, we decided to ride La Revolucion. However, due to the slow moving line and the closing time was rapidly approaching, we left the line to end our night on Xcelerator. After Xcel, we wanted to ride Supreme Scream, but we saw a trash can in front of the entrance, and we all knew it was too late.

 

Camera blurriness ruined what could have been a killer shot.

 

3? Now you're overdoing it.

 

 

If trash cans were currency, Cedar Fair could afford to buy out Disney and Six Flags.

 

 

 

It was a good day, except for a few missed rides. Those were Calico Mine Ride, Sky Tower, La Revolucion. I have been on Sky Tower and Calico before though.

 

 

 

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my PTR!

[thrillgeek]

Nice photos Sam!! For one reason or another I never end up using the fast passes at DLR.

[Goliath513]

Adam and Tyler, thanks for the comments!

[thrillgeek]

I noticed you didn't like Sierra Sidewinder. So...... Does this mean you won't like Tony Hawk's Big Spin either? Did it even make you queasy a little?

[ghost007jas]

Sweet trip reports!

 

Sierra Sidewinder is the kind of ride that you either get an amazing ride from. Or a relatively boring, and unexciting ride. It varies .

[Goliath513]

^^ The only thing which got me sick on the trip was some bad food on the first day. Other than that, no.

 

Chances are, I will like THBS since it is a Gerstlauer version of spinning coaster because I have ridden the one at the Mall of America (before it became Nick Universe) a few years ago and it was much better than SS.

[Gnome]

ha! I was the one who loaded you onto the Screaming Swing. I seriously hate working that ride.

[costa425]

Are you still going to post the SFMM PTR... Other then that your PTRS are amazing!!!

[Alpenguy]

Nice report, lacking in Matterhorn pictures, but that can be forgiven.

 

Just in case you're curious about the true nature of Disney efficiency ownage, Space runs about 1,600/hr. 10 trains, with 21 seconds between them. Matterhorn easily does that between both sides, but sends 24/25 seconds apart with 10 trains on each track. Splash usually handles 1350+ an hour, try doing that with a typical other log flume.

[hemmy]

Speaking of fire codes, my family was once forced to leave a restaurant at WDW because the huge amount of people violated the fire code

[sfmmrules!]

Nice trip report. Wow I will never go to Disney when the crowds are that bad! I went end of January & all the rides were walk ons especially Splash Mountain. Next time if you can try to go at an off time. You'll almost have the whole park to yourself.

[dino]

Aww...no love for sierra sidewinder? That's okay I guess it depends on the ride. I went on once and it was okay, but then I got on again and it was great cause we spun so much on it. Overall great PTRs, nice shot of PP from the log ride. I like PP but it's hard to find someone who will ride it with me.