TR: Knotts and SFMM - 4/22/08 - 4/23/08

[GuruGuys]

Preface

First let me say that I'm a very new coaster enthusiast. This was really the first time I took a trip whose primary purpose was to ride coasters. I had not ridden a roller coaster in over 13 years until Boardwalk Bullet opened last August, since then I have only been to SFOT and SFFT, so my coaster count is very low and many of these thrills are totally new to me. I choose SFMM and Knotts because I have a friend that lives in the area who I could stay with and was also interested in going to the parks with me. He had not ridden a coaster in over a decade himself. I also choose SFMM because of the variety of different types of coasters it has. Perhaps this will make for a different view than many hard seeded coaster enthusiasts, or perhaps newer enthusiasts like me will get something out of it. Please excuse the lack of proper paragraphs, the text editor I used chewed it all up and it pasted wrong into TPR, I've tried to edit it back together properly.

 

Knotts Berry Farm

4-22-2008

 

We drove from Burbank to Knotts in about 30 minutes. Upon arriving we found it a bit hard to find the entrance as the signs off the freeway led to a closed parking lot. Fortunately a local told us where the main lot was but also advised us to park for free in the residential neighborhood across the street from it. Sure enough there was street side parking available to non-residents everywhere. Having picked up a coupon from Burger King to get in for $28.99, this made the visit dirt cheap. Speaking of which, I was always under the impression this park was pretty ghetto. Even my friend from Burbank had the impression they were pretty trashy since they always catered to the lowest common denominator. I had also read posts about the park going downhill on TPR after Cedar Fair took over. Perhaps this caused me to underestimate this park going in.

 

Most of the parking lot was empty and as we walked to the ticket booth was saw all the little shops and the 'Famous Ms. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant'. We used out coupons from Burger King, entered the park and grabbed a map. The park had just opened and it was pretty much a ghost town except for a few school field trips of kids around 9-11 years old.

 

 

Silver Bullet

 

The map guided us to the first ride, Silver Bullet, which was running with one train. The queue was pretty much empty. We walked up to the first row that had two others in line. Silver Bullet would be my second inverted coaster, Batman was my first. My friend had never been on this type of coaster before. We spoke with the two other folks in line and they agreed to let us have the outside seats. After the first ride my friend stated he was really surprised by the forces. I told him that he hasn't felt anything yet (knowing that Goliath and others awaited the next day), as I stated earlier this was his first coaster ride in over 10 years. We rode about 5-6 times without having to leave the queue area in a variety of seats. I enjoyed the ride, the helix at the end was my favorite part and it rode ultra smooth. The ride ops were very friendly and struck conversations with us each time we reloaded. We eventually agreed to go on to the next ride on the map which was...

 

Jaguar

 

I didn't know what to expect with this one as I've never heard anyone mention it. There was probably a reason for it as it was slow, a bit rough, and really did nothing at all. I know its a family coaster, but so its Roadrunner Express at SFFT and Runaway Mine Train at SFOT, and those are fun. I'm sure some of you will convince me that is not a good comparison as they are not the same type of ride but nevertheless it was no fun at all. We rode it once in the front, once in the back, and moved on to Scream.

 

Scream

 

Ok, this isn't a coaster, but I am very fond of these types of rides. My first drop tower was Sky Screamer at Astroworld, and I hope to make it to Cedar Point to ride one of the last remaining free falls again before they decide to close it. Otherwise I've been on Superman at SFOT and Scream which were both fun. I've also had some great experiences on some ghetto carnival drop towers. I wanted my friend to experience a drop tower for his first time so we rode Scream here. They were operating only one tower, which is all that was needed for the lack of crowd, and two maintenance guys were working on the tower next to us. They had the bottom of one of the pipes opened and were doing something inside it when we heard a loud clang sound like something dropped. The maintenance guys noticed everyone looked over and one of them said jokingly "Ah, just leave it in there, it will be fine!" We got a nice chuckle out of it. I asked the maintenance guy why they only shot down and he said it had something to do with the other drop tower in town which shoots you up? We got on the ride and it wasn't very fun at all , no real zero G as you are put into the shoulder bar right away. We were both disappointed and agreed the best thing about the ride as the view. We only rode once even though there as no line and we could have stayed on.

 

Xcellerator

 

Aside from Grezzed Lightnin at Astroworld, Mr. Freeze at SFOT was the only launch coaster I had been on. Greezed was probably my favorite at Astroworld when I was a kid, and Mr. Freeze was fun as my first ever ERT ride during an ACE event. The station only had a few people in line when we arrived. Since the first row was the longest, about a 3 ride wait, we decided to get in the back, which was empty. This is another coaster which I don't hear many people talk about, maybe because its been around awhile? For someone like me who hadn't ridden many launch coasters, I was not prepared for what was about to happen! The lights started counting down from red to yellow to green and the ride shot off. The launch was unreal, much better than the Mr. Freeze launch, and before we knew it we were ejected into the lap bar and remained there all the way over the hill. At the end of the hill we got an extra bit of boost before pulled down and into the rest of the ride. The rest of the ride is nothing special but I didn't care, the launch and hill would be the my new barometer for this type of ride. We rode this one at least 20 times throughout the day. The front seat provides the best floater all the way over the hill, while the back provides ejector into not as long of duration of floater air. This ride alone was worth the park visit for me.

 

It was at Xcellerator where I made the conclusion that everything I had read and heard about Knotts being a 'lowest common denominator' park was untrue. They had 5 operators on this ride even though the park was pretty empty most of the day. The other rides (like Silver Bullet) had 4-5 ride ops. When I visited Six Flags Fiesta Texas a few weeks earlier on a Saturday, a day the park is much busier, they only had 2 ride ops on Superman even though it was running three trains. Furthermore, all the ride operators at Knotts were having fun every time we came back to ride, like playing games with the ride patrons asking them to "guess ride op Jerry's last name, it begins with X" while everyone in the station would come up with the most ridiculous suggestions. It is nice to see employees having fun at their jobs and it made the little time we had to wait to ride go by faster.

 

Rip Tide

 

I have not been on this type of ride before. SFOT has something similar but not exactly the same, but it was really boring. I decided to give it a try and was really impressed. The water theming and how they tease to about getting wet was fun, and the finale with 6 aggressive spins was just enough but not too much. The POV I was taking on this ride didn't work, so we rode once more to try again then both my Friend and I agreed that was all we could take. For a flat ride it was fun, but not something I am likely to ride twice in a row or wait a long time in line for.

 

Boomerang

 

Some of you may have seen my post on TPR about my first Vekoma Boomerang ride at SFOT and that it didn't live up to the rough and ouchie ride that I was groomed to expect. Well, this one did! I had already warned my friend of the reputation of this ride and he agreed it was unnecessarily rough. Furthermore, I got my first quadrupole ;vekoma; during the cobra roll which felt more like a going though a W shaped piece of track with 45 degree angles! We were in the second to last car (the same one I rode in at SFOT so I could compare) so we decided to ride in the front after that. The front is a bit easier on you at the beginning, but going backwards through the cobra roll is worse! Only two rides on the Boomerang and we are done.This ride had a bit of a line, about a two train wait (I know, thats not a line, but for this day it was). When in line I was telling my friend of the Vekoma reputation I have learned about from TPR and other enthusiasts. The ride op overheard me and joing in the conversation. She started talking about the Vekoma at SFMM and warned us of that one. She then started talking of other coasters and companies with us. Again, it was nice to have a ride op who conversed with us and this one actually a bit of enthusiasts herself.

 

Ghostrider

 

I didn't know what to expect of Ghostrider. To this point the only Wooden Coasters I have ridden are Texas Cyclone, Wildcat at Lake Compounce, Texas Giant, Rattler, and Boardwalk Bullet. I was expecting to rate this one solidly behind Boardwalk Bullet for the ones I had ridden, mainly because the others in Texas are so bad. We got in the front seat of the back car. My friend, who had only ridden Texas Cyclone in the past, was warned that the back seat is usually a bit rough. I had was prepared a bit after having ridden Giant and Rattler (and Boardwalk Bullet to an extent) for roughness, but I DIDN'T expect what I got from Ghostrider. WOW, this was BY FAR the roughest coaster I have ever been on. The drops ejected you hard into the lap bars, then down back into the seat with some nice added shimmy. OUCH, my friend and I both hurt a but when we got off. Nevertheless I convinced him that the front should be smoother. I was a bit worried about this, but to this date on every other woodie I have ridden there has been a big difference in the front. We got in line, about a 2 train wait (they were running two trains), then prepared for the worst. WOW, what a difference! This was a very fun coaster in the front car. Perhaps it was just the transition from back car to front, but it is my #2 woodie easily at this point, although it won't stay there long as I will be hitting El Toro in a few months When I got back to my friends place I looked it up on Mitch's coaster poll where it was #37 ranked, not too bad really, for some reason I thought it was ranked much worse.

 

After Ghostrider we rode La Revolution and a then re-rode Xcellerator and Silver Bullet a lot more. We rode the upcharge sky swing ride, which really sucked and was way too short, We rode Xcellerator more then hit the gift shop so I could buy an Xcellerator Tee Shirt but they had none in XL size. We ended up spending about seven hours in the park, even though we had only budgeted four.

 

Pros:

 

Very Clean and extremely fun and friendly ride operators.

 

No crowds and reride policy didn't require us to talk the queue.

 

Very inexpensive.

 

The Western part of the park near ghostrunner was nice to walk around. I can imagine my parents spending had they come at the shops there.

 

Xcellerator!

 

Cons:

 

Not many coasters, two were under maintenance.

Scream was a bore.

Seem to cater to a younger audience.

 

 

Conclusion

 

I know Montezumas Revenge and Sidewinder would be down when I arrived a Knott's does a nice job if putting their ride status online, so I was not too disappointed by this. I would have loved to ride the Schwartzkopf looper and bring back memories of Greezed Lightning in my younger days, but that will have to wait for the next time I will be in Burbank. Speaking of which, I will go back to Knotts when I am visiting. Even though I am knew to this, and yes I have not seen the bigger better parks out there, I don't know why anyone would say this is not a good park. The few Six Flags parks I have been to don't even come close as far as the hospitality that we received from Knotts. Furthermore, it was dirt cheap to get in. As I said before, I had very low expectation coming in, and those expectations were far, far exceeded!

 

Day Two

Six Flags Magic Mountain - The real reason I came to SoCal!

April 24, 2008

 

 

It took only 25 minutes to get to SFMM and we arrived minutes after the gate opened. I used my season pass and the "Get a Friend in Free" coupon that came with it so we paid nothing to enter or park. The previous day we ran into a Coaster Enthusiast and ACE member named Richard that told us to go to Tatsu first, so off to Tatsu it was.

 

Tatsu

 

After a bit of walking (I think it might have been faster and easier to take the orient express and walk down to the Tatsu Entrance in retrospect?) we arrived at the Tatsu entrance. I had my camera bag and told my friend we needed to put it in the locker to ride. I know this issue has been beat into the ground, but my friend, who I stated before doesn't do theme parks, was amazed that we had to pay to do this so its not just coaster enthusiasts that are complaining. My friend suggested we try to fit all my stuff in his big cargo pant pockets and somehow they were able to fit so we didn't have to use the lockers after all. The line to Tatsu was about 20 minutes and having been spoiled from the previous day this seemed like a long time. We decided to queue up for the first seat once we were allowed into the station. Three rides later we were on, seated on opposite ends of each other, and the Tatsu experience began. I noticed how comfortable the restraints were and was surprised. Most of your weight it balanced across different areas so not one area is taking on a lot of the pressure. We were lowered into flying position and off to the lift hill we went. It was then when I noticed was the amount of bubble gum stuck on the bottom of the lift hill. I was chewing a piece of gum myself and looking at all this chewed gum made me a bit sick and I wanted to spit mine out, but I didn't. This was a problem that seemed to persist on other rides throughout the park a well. Alas, we were on that part of track for a few seconds before working our way to the top of the hill. The view that appeared before my eyes was unlike any coaster experience I have had. Keep in mind, I am from South Texas, we do not have hills, our mountains, etc, so the experience was escalated for me. My Friend, who is a bit scared of heights, was silent at this part. We cleared the hill and off we went. The first ride went by very fast. I couldn't believe the force at which you were pushed away from the train. Then came what I soon would call the pinnacle of the ride, the loop! This element was awesome with the positive G's sustaining all the way around. Wow! We headed into the station and just before the brakes got some nice ejector as our butt popped up into the back of the seat. THIS was why I came to CA! We stopped on the brake run and sat for awhile while the train in front was unloaded. They were running two trains and using only one side of the station. It was when we sat here that I again noticed what had to be days, if not weeks, of bubble gum in various stages of deformation all over the area. It made me want to spit out my gum out, and I am sure encourages others to do the same, its really disgusting SFMM really need to take care of this, it seems like it would be very trivial to do.

 

After about 4 minutes we were moved into the station and because there were lines, and we did not know how long the lines would get on the other coasters in the rest of the park as the day went on, we decided to move on and hit Tatsu again later.

 

Superman The Escape

 

On the way to Riddlers Revenger we decided to hit Superman. This coaster was the one that really captured my attention when it was built 12 years ago and I've always wanted to ride. We went into the station which was very dark and blacklit. The loading queue was unique to me as I've never seem this type where the doors open to the ride, until that point you can not see the trains and station. There was nobody in the queue which first made me wonder if it was even open. A few seconds later the doors opened and we were allowed in. We sat in the front of the car, the ride op checked our restraints and only seconds later we were off. The launch was on its way, at least I thought it was, but it felt more like a car just gaining speed. We reached the top and back in no time at all and looked at each other like nothing happened. I guess we were both spoiled by Xcellerator the day before. I was very very disappointed. Even with no lines, we decided not to ride again (fearing the lines might be building up on some of the other coasters, a fear which would later prove to be unnecessary). Superman proved to be the biggest disappointment

of the trip, and by far the most annoying as the noise it made when you were near that end of the park was very aggravating.

 

Riddlers Revenge

 

My only stand up was Batman at Astroworld and I really don't remember much about it. My friend has never been on a stand up before. We made it to that area of the park and it was deserted. As we walked towards the station we saw the infamous ride lockers and one park employee looked bored out of her mind waiting to check the few patrons that were passing her by. We made our way into the queue and my friend mentioned the feeble attempt at theming. I told him that Six Flags really doesn't do that and he should expect Disney type theming. He pointed out the broken laser machines at the back of the ride queue and stated that at least what they did have could be working. It didn't bother me, nonetheless, I was there to ride coasters. Riddler's Revenge had only a few riders in line. We headed to the back seat since it was empty. The ride operator greeted us which was nice, something I had become accustomed to from the previous day at Knotts. One train later we were on our way. The only thing I remember about Batman at Astroworld it that is was a bit uncomfortable. I am now 5'8" and a heft 200lbs while my friend is 6'8" and the same weight. We both mentioned that although the restraints were all over, it was not uncomfortable at all. Off we went up the lift hill then, clank, it stopped and then rolled back an inch onto the anti rollbacks. We were only about 1/3 of the way up. I explained to my friend that it would probably start going again soon and not to worry. About 4 minutes later we were off! I didn't expect much out of this coaster, it seems to me that standing up would be the least ideal position to ride in, but Riddler's Revenge delivered. It was fast and furious. The elements were very close to each other without much dead time. We made our way back into the station and decided to get in the front seats. The ride operators said we had to walk to the queue since there were people in line there already (there was nobody else in line elsewhere however). The queue was easy to walk since the placement of the ride lockers allowed us to cut through and the employee there didn't mind. We were back up before the next ride was release. Our front seat ride was even better. The wind and view makes a world of difference on these types of coasters and the positive G's seemed more forceful. We decided that Riddler's Revenge would be on our list to ride more later.

 

Batman

 

I've been on several Batmans now in Texas but my friend had not been on one. Since this part of the park still looked empty we decided to go ahead and give it a ride. The station was empty so riding the front was no problem. It was at this point that I noticed the lack of customer interaction by the ride ops. The previous day at Knotts had been just the opposite. While entering Batman one ride op was sitting on the steps of the control panel and the others looked like zombies. There were only about 8 riders total on the ride in progress, so I know it must be a bit boring, but it was this empty at Knotts too. Regardless, we loaded up on the front car and off we went. We entered the station just as fast as we left and I was happy to see the big grin on my friends face. He said he really liked that and I went on to tell him about how many there are and the situation in Texas where they have one in neighboring parks just thirty minutes apart. It is a very fun ride for sure, and another one we decided to ride more later.

 

Goliath

 

I had been boasting to my friend about Goliath before we got there. It was another coaster I really wanted to ride as Titan is my favorite steel in Texas. I told my friend about the positive G's causing momentary vision loss on some people which he still fails to believe can happen. This ride had the longest lines of the day. This was partially due to a vomit cleanup which was going on as we entered the station. The ride ops here seemed to be enjoying their job. The lady on the main control panel was interacting with the customers, answering every ridiculous question we asked by saying "Oh Yeah" in the way the Kool Aid Man does. Everyone got a laugh and it made the twenty minute wait fly by. We decided to get in the back seat first. In my experience at SFOT I recall the back having the most positive G's and some decent floater on the airtime hill. I've heard some people say they like Titan better, and others say they like Goliath. I was interested to see what I thought. When the ride was over I was a bit disappointed. Although the ejector in the first drop seemed a bit more than on Titan, the positive G's during the loop on Tatsu were closer to what I felt on Titan, and while Goliath's single (helix?) did produce some positive G's it was nothing like Titan or Goliaths Positive G's. We decided to ride in the front to see if anything was different. We lost the ejector in the first drop by gained a bit of floater on the airtime hill. The positive G's on the helix started a bit sooner but were not as strong. My friend liked the ride but said it was the least fun to him out of all the coasters we had ridden (he won't even consider Superman, which he would have ranked lower, even lower than the Scream drop tower at Knotts he said). Two rides was all here and we put it on the back of the list to re-ride later if we had time and the park was not too full.

 

Scream

 

I told him a bit of Superman at SFFT, the other B&M floorless I had ridden. The line here had a one train wait. The ride ops here reminded me of the ones on Batman, not enjoying their work at all and we were never greeted or acknowledged. We loaded up to the front seats and within a minute were on our way. Scream was an mixed experience, it was a nice ride, but it always seemed like it was going a too slow. It was being trimmed hard and just seemed like it wasn't doing what the designers intended. Since there were no riders in the queue and the ride ops said we didn't have to walk the the entrance we rode 4 times in various seats. We both agreed at the end that this was now our least favorite ride of the day and we probably wouldn't be back to re-ride. Its nice and smooth, and the view in the front is fun, but it just doesn't do much.

 

Colossus

 

Ok, I've heard NOTHING but bad about this coaster. I heard that they sometimes ride one train backwards, so I thought I'd give it a chance and at least make it my first backwards riding coaster. The ride ops here seemed more awake at least but they didn't acknowledge us either. The customer service and interaction at Knotts was really starting to put SFMM to shame at this point. Unfortunately for me, they were not riding a train backwards today but there was no wait in the queue so we got in the second to last seat. We were not expecting to get violently jolted into the lap bar on the first and second drop, it really hurt for the very short amount of ejector air that it was. The rest of the ride was a mess. Slow turns, useless hills, and needless roughness. I guess if they were running two trains and they raced it would add a little excitement to the ride. We recalled how our front seat ride of Ghostrider the previous day gave us a much better opinion of the ride so we went in line to the front. At this point we didn't even ask the ride ops if it was OK to re-ride as they seemed less than interested in interacting with us. Obviously it wasn't a problem as we sat in the front and were off as the only two riders on the train. Unlike Ghostrider, however, a front seat ride would not salvage this ride. I don't have many wooden coaster credits but I will put this one dead last, way below Rattler even. Two rides were enough for us and off we went.

 

Viper

 

After viewing the park map we decided to ride Viper on the other side of the park. After a decent walk which went through a section I starting calling the "trash can parade" where there was a trash can placed every 15 feet for a long section and nothing else around, we arrived at Viper. This coaster was very unique looking. The nearby elevation changes and the loop way up at the top was interesting. We arrived at a near empty queue again and were pleasantly greeted by the ride op. The first thing I noticed were the restraints. They had every indication of an unpleasant ride. We waiting for the train to return and plumped down into the first seat. The over the shoulder restraints were huge, I wondered if they were even necessary on a ride like this. Our expectation began to sink pretty low for this one. We left the lift hill and into the first loop and quickly into the next loop. My friend screamed "not bad" and just as he did, bam, head slam! And another, and another, and ouch ouch ouch. What happened! The ride was over and were were both very displeased. It started out pretty fun, but ended with a lot of needless banging. Of course, because I try to get front and back car rides on every coaster I get on, we had to do the back now. Neither were looking forward to this but it had to be done. After noticing the wheels sat behind the very last seat I said it would be safe to actually sit in the very last seat, not the second to least that I often choose. This ride was different in that not even the first loops were pleasant, without the force of the back of the train forcing the front through the loops it felt like the train would not even make it through. It had so many unexpected bumps going into and out of elements, it reminded me of what had come to expect from Vekmoma. Two rides were more than enough here.

 

Revolution

 

The closest thing I had been on to being a terrain coaster was Astroworld mini mine train, the Serpent. I was looking forward to this aspect of the ride so we headed there next. This ride was the most empty of the day. We walked right on to a waiting front seat. Like our previous ride, Viper, I didn't like the over the shoulder restraints right away as they were lined up right at my ear level. I thought it was interesting it had a chain driving the train out of the station into the lift hill chain. The first drop was mostly harmless but after that the ride was torturous. My ears kept getting banged around ever few seconds. I tensed up as the loop approached but was pleasantly surprised it was not that bad, easily the best part of the ride. I was not able to enjoy the scenery as much a I would have liked. My friend, who is a bit taller than me, was also beat up pretty well. We decided, for the first time, not to ride the back car. Viper pretty much did us in, and the front of this one was taking it toll on us. It was time to head back to nice and comfy Tatsu before we continued on to the other coasters we hadn't hit.

 

Tatsu - Re-riding and getting stuck on the lift

 

When we arrived in the morning there as a line downstairs into the queue but now when we arrived there was no line at all, we were able to walk into a mostly empty queue with only a line for the front car. We decided to try the middle car, then the back after that. Both rides were fun, the back car delivered more forces and both had surprisingly good views, but we decided to wait a two three train wait for another ride in the front, the view there is unmatched! We started out of the station and hit the bottom of the lift then then, suddenly clunk, bang, stop. We came to a rest. A ride op ran out several seconds later to assure everyone nothing was wrong. Apparently some idiot jumped over the exit gate to retrieve an item they left behind and the ride op was forced to hit the e-stop. The ride op spent as much time needed answering any questions each car of the train had. I asked how they did evacs from the lift hill and if they have ever had to do one at the top. He said they have not done one from the top of the lift hill but several from the bottom of the lift hill (where we were at). Apparently they unload you from the flying position. I also took the time to ask him if the new ride locker policy is helping load times. He said it hasn't helped at all because everyone spends just as much tie getting shoes and/or arguing why they can't get an item they left behind. It took about twenty minutes before maintenance was able to reset the ride. We went up about 1/4 on the hill and came to another stop. The ride op ran back out and yelled that this was normal and part of the reset sequence. A minute later we were off. Now, I stated early how comfortable Tatsu restraints are. Let me revise that by saying they are when you are riding and forces are changing directions, but sitting stationary in the flying position becomes quite uncomfortable fast, especially if your are not pinned in by the restraints (I liked to leave it a little loose so I could move around in the seat). We had a nice ride and when we returned to the station the ride op told us to go downstairs and they would have something for us for our inconvenience. At the exit there was a manager and security officer writing out tickets that would get us to the front of the line any time of the day, a one time use instant flash pass. It was only good for today, so it wasn't of much use since there were no lines to begin with, but we took it anyway, and off to Deja Vu we went.

 

Deja Vu

 

This would be my first Giant Boomerang, and suspended at that. When we arrived in the queue there was a bit of a line. After waiting a few minutes and noticing nothing was happening the ride op announced technical difficulties and stated that we could wait of go ride something else. A few minutes later he made the same announcement and quite a few people started to get out of line and exit. Literally 30 seconds later, with a bit of embarrassing chuckle, the ride op announced the ride was now open again. A few people lost their spots but the people in line graciously let them get back to their original positions. It was then that I noticed that they were assigning seats on this ride. I have never experienced this. After riding Viper, Revolution, then getting a bit sore on Tatsu due to the e-stop, I wasn't too anxious on riding in the back of this one. As luck would have it when we got to the station the ride op that as assigning isle sent us to row 16, the very back. I asked if we could ride row one and he said we couldn't, we'd have to get back in line and try our luck.

 

Why do they do this? Does this happen at all parks with Giant Boomerangs? It sucked nonetheless. We sighed a bit, told him we were just stuck on Tatsu for 20 minutes and didn't want to get beat up but that didn't seem to matter. He said the back is the best seat to ride anyway. To the right of us was a mother and young daughter, they realized then that they would be separated by the design of the train cars. They asked the ride op if they could ride together in a car, then the ride op started asking for volunteers, he found none. They decided to ride anyway. This added to the oddness of assigning seats. It seems like they could just limit the station to 4-6 people per line and if they want to switch lines they could. There is probably a solid reason for the reason they do it this way, but you guys will have to fill me in on it.

 

Alas, we got in the back and off we went. The lift to the top was fast and quite fun when it let go. The day earlier I got my first quadruple . This time I got and Sextuple , it would now be my record. The cobra roll was not that bad and the loop was enjoyable. The drops were by far the best part of the ride, with the initial drop giving me just a tad bit of the feeling I remember on the free fall at Astroworld. Had they not had these horrible restraints, this one wouldn't have been that bad. Since we couldn't choose which seat to ride in we did not get in line to ride again.

 

Ninja

 

We headed off to Ninja but were advised it was down due to technical difficulties but would re-open soon.

 

Gold Rusher

 

I like mine trains. The one at SFFT is a blast. I was hoping this one would pack a little punch as well. The ride ops here were unresponsive and looked like the boredom of their job was getting to them. We were not greeted even though we were one of 4 riders there. Alas, they sent us out and up the lift hill after checking our restraints.

 

About halfway up the hill on the left we approached the most sickening sight I had seen at the park. It was a pole that had what seemed to be an accumulation of about a 1/2 on used bubble gum covering a space of about 1 foot by 8 inches. It looked nasty, slimy and of course as I was still chewing my gum which made me want to hurl it out. Now, with Tatsu I can understand it might be a little bit more difficult to clean the gum up, but it should still be trivial and a daily part of their cleanup routine. With this ride, however, there is no excuse. It was apparent this was not a days worth of gum, or even a weekends, but it had been accumulating for a long time. Very nasty. At least with this one it was easy to look away, while in Tatsu you are hanging looking down at it everywhere. We continued up the lift and the coaster picked up some speed, went through some terrain and before we knew it another lift. This might have been one of the shorter sections on a mine train I recall before the second lift. It was a pleasant ride and I enjoyed the terrain. The end of the ride picked up speed and the helix delivered a nice bit of force for a family coaster. I am sure the little ones were happy it was over right afterwards, a good entry to coastering for them. We rode once more in the back seat

and had a very similar ride. This is probably the worst of the few mine trains I have been on, but by no means a bad ride.

 

Bumper Cars

 

We decided to make the quick walk to the bumper cars. Got in line then saw you were forced to ride in circles, thought "What's the point of riding.", and moved on and decided to ride Riddler's Revenge and Batman some more.

 

Riddler's Revenge - Reriding

Still no lines except for the front. We got in the last row and off we went. Fun ride until we got back onto the brakes where we ended up standing for about 10 minutes. The problem was a rider in the train loading in front of us refused to throw away her brand new water bottle. The ride op kept telling her she would have to throw it away or not ride. She also had a bag in her hand which held a photo she bought from another ride. They kept arguing back and forth, the few riders on my train were obviously getting a bit angry at the situation. I was surprised the ride op didn't call security. Apparently they came to some agreement where the lady threw away the water but was able to hold the bag during the ride. When we were finally moved up and ready to unload I asked the ride op if the locker policy is working. This was twice I had been delayed to the policy (once on Tatsu earlier when a rider tried to recover an item they 'threw away'). He said that it didn't speed things up at all and he has been in the situation arguing with riders about the policy quite a few times. Fortunately it was not a busy day, but I can't imagine the tension the ride ops would be put under in this situation on a busy day. We re-rode about 7-8 times and decided to hit Batman again next.

 

Batman Rerides

 

Its the Batman you all know and love. The queues were totally empty and we did not have to walk them to re-ride. After a few rides one of the ride ops actually had a short conversation with me, these were the ride ops that earlier looked to be in zombie mode. We rode about 5 times and decided it was time to see if Ninja was operating.

 

Ninja (a.k.a. the Ride after the walk of death)

 

As I have stated before, I am from Houston and there are not many hills here at all. The shortest route on the map showed ninja to be right around the corner. In retrospect, we may have taken another route because we ended up taking the climb of death. My feet and ankles are not used to inclines and by the time we made it to the top of this hill and the entrance of Ninja, I as gasping for air and my calves were burning. Alas, we made it and there was no wait to get on Ninja in the front car. The ride reminded me of XLR8 at Astroworld. I remember how you would be flying right into a support pole and swing out of the way just in time. The ride ops here greeted us and were friendly. We took off in the front car and I noticed the nice terrain again. It was noticeably faster than I remember XLR8 which quite surprised me. Some of the turns had nice positive forces. I was a bit

disappointed that it didn't give the illusion of being about to run into a pole or tree as much as I recalled XLR8 did. It was a fun ride, and we decided to ride in the back car, which wasn't nearly as good, mainly because of the view.

 

Log Jammer

 

By now we wanted to have nice ride cool ride so we headed to the log flume. There was no line and a bunch of empty logs floating around. The temperature wasn't bad so we decided to risk getting a bit wet after the ride op let us know that you do get wet on this flume. I have only been on the log flumes at Astroworld, SFFT, and SFOT. This one would probably rate somewhere along the lines of Astroworld's for me, I like SFFT and SFOT better. The best part about it is terrain and it moves along pretty fast all the way through. We came upon the second lift when I mentioned to my friend that they usually have a ride op sitting the the booth up there. When we got to the top we found the ride op, in a laying position looking up at us, not too impressive. The drop was nice, then the water slowed and we made our way to the big drop. Didn't get too wet but we were nailed by a couple of patrons with the water cannons, which got us much more wet than the drop. My friend had never seen these things so when we got out we spent a few quarters and waited (about 5 minutes because nobody was riding) to shoot it. It was fun and a bit of vengeance to get someone else wet.

 

Tatsu - Finishing the day with ERT on our favorite SFMM coaster

 

At this point the evening was winding down. It was about 5:20 so we headed to Tatsu. We decided to use our re-ride voucher and entered through the exit as we were instructed. The four people who were waiting to ride the front had to wait for us to ride first instead with a nearly empty train behind us. After that we had to change seats but were able to get on and stay on until the last ride of the evening without having to walk the queue. Tatsu is a great ride, I could ride it all day long. I am a bit sore on the area below my shoulders on my chest from the pressure on the restraints but soreness due to a great coaster is not a bad thing for me! And don't get me wrong, Tatsu is not uncomfortable, its just that we rode it so much, most riders would never experience this. During this session on Tatsu the ride ops were much more talkative, probably because they noticed us riding so much, but perhaps more so because they were getting of work soon. I kept noticing people leaving water, stuffed animals, etc on the floor. Apparently they were not enforcing the ride locker policy this late into the evening. We asked the ride operators how many rides were left then planned to get in line for the front car for the last ride of the day. We planned correctly, a group behind us in line for the front had to get in another car, and the day was finished on a high point. We even got to return into the opposite station which was not used today as they parked our train for the night.

 

As we headed for the park exit my friend stated how eerie it was to be in an empty theme park as his previous experiences were always in packed parks. We hit the gift store that was still open and I bought a Tatsu shirt. It was a great day and end to my first 'mini' coaster trip.

 

Pros:

 

• 
  Nice Variety of Coasters.
   
  I loved the terrain, lots of trees and scenery, and for the most part very clean.
   
  No lines all day!
   
  Tatsu, Riddler's Revenge, Batman.
   
  

 

Cons:

 

• Get rid of the Bubble Gum problem on Tatsu and on Gold Rusher, its disgusting and shouldn't be too hard to deal with.
   
  Disappointed by Superman, the noise it makes is horrendous. Colassus and Scream disappointing.
   
  Encourage the ride ops to have fun, or look like they are having fun. Knotts killed SFMM in this area and perhaps we were a bit spoiled by them. I don't expect ride ops to greet me personally, especially on busy days, but when you are the only two riders, or one of just a few, some interaction or acknowledgment that you exist would be nice. At the very least they shouldn't look like zombies doing their job. Some of the operators, like at Goliath and at Tatsu at the end of the day, were having fun and very nice.
   
  Ride Lockers - we didn't have to pay for them but, ironically, they actually slowed things down for us and were the cause of several delays.
   
  Very few flats.
   
  That darn steep hill we climbed to get back to Ninja
  

 

Conclusion:

 

I've read the park used to be bad and had a problems with gangs and stuff but I can't judge it on what it used to be, only what it is on my experience. That being said, it is by far the most scenic of the parks I have been to, and the variety of coasters makes it a great park for new enthusiasts to visit. The few problems I have it with should be easily remedied. I will be revisiting it anytime I am in the area and I am sure as I occur more coaster credits it will be fondly in my memory as one of the first parks I visited when starting this hobby.

 

-GG

 

P.S. I have some POV and pics I may post later, but I figure most people here have seen plenty of them already. If enough ask, I'll post the POV videos. And yes, the POV was taken with a camera that is worn like a watch, or strapped around my leg for suspended coasters. All the ride ops saw it and none had an issue at either park. Many of the asked where to get one for themselves.

[sfotfreak]

Nice TR that must of taken you ages! Some pictures whould of been nice but great anyway!

[GuruGuys]

Nice TR that must of taken you ages! Some pictures whould of been nice but great anyway!

 

Yes, it took awhile, but it is a bit like a journal for myself and replaying the trip in my mind was quite fun.

 

I really don't have many pictures, I was too caught up in riding I did put up the POV I did while at Knotts, I'll see about editing the SFMM POVS I have as well.

 

Also, SFMM is really a classy organization, I have already been contacted about some of my criticism which they will adress.

 

Kudos to them!

 

-GG

[Top Thrill Dragster]

Great TR and POVs!

 

 

When did Knotts become so relaxed on POVs? I was there last Sunday and they were stopping trains on lifts to take cameras and sunglasses away from riders. And I am VERY suprised that they let you take your camera on Xcelerator.

 

Also how did you secure your camera to you leg? Because that was cool, never seen a leg POV before!

[GuruGuys]

^^^

 

Thanks, I have a few other "Leg Point Of View" and "Arm Up Point of View" videos from some of the Texas parks but never edited them. It makes for some intersting angles for sure.

 

I use one of these: Go Pro Digital Hero

 

It straps on very securely like a watch. I have used it at both Six Flags parks in Texas, in California, Knotts, Seaworld San Antonio, and Kemah Boardwalk. I always ask the ride ops and make sure they see it before I use it. Many of the ride ops have conversations with me about it and ask where they can buy it (Circuit City among other places). I've had a couple of ride ops have to ask the ride lead if its OK, but I've never been refused. Its very small and straps on securely. The video it captures is decent for such a small device, it doesn't work well in low light and takes while to adjust when going into bright light. Because it straps on vertically when its on my leg I had to rotate the video to view it correctly which is why it is padded with black borders. At that orientation you get more view of track ahead of you in the frame instead of what is on the left and right which is kidna cool but you have a lot of wasted space on a widescreen display.

 

-GG

[Top Thrill Dragster]

^VERY COOL, I am going to look into getting one!

 

Thank you!

[PURE]

Holy cow that's quite a large TR!

 

Maybe its just my piece of junk computer, but the POV's not loading. Is this a problem for anyone else? It seems like it starts then the buttons just go away and its blank.

 

Otherwise the input and effort you took towards writing that is quite astonishing. Nice!

[downunder]

Nice work, it's always interesting to get someone's else's point of view on these parks. Glad you enjoyed them.

 

Look forward to an X leg point of view when you get back.

[ghost007jas]

When did Knotts become so relaxed on POVs? I was there last Sunday and they were stopping trains on lifts to take cameras and sunglasses away from riders. And I am VERY suprised that they let you take your camera on Xcelerator.

 

They didn't. All the POV footage is against park policy, and therefore illegal.. also against site policy I believe.

 

Nice trip report though.

[GuruGuys]

When did Knotts become so relaxed on POVs? I was there last Sunday and they were stopping trains on lifts to take cameras and sunglasses away from riders. And I am VERY suprised that they let you take your camera on Xcelerator.

 

They didn't. All the POV footage is against park policy, and therefore illegal.. also against site policy I believe.

 

Nice trip report though.

 

I've already responded to this. On Xcellerator, at least three of the five ride ops directly asked me about it and one of them asked where they could buy one at. They all knew I was recording POV. It's not something I hide and bring out on the lift, it is clearly visible on my wrist at all times. If it is against park policy they need to retrain the ride ops.

 

-GG

[SharkTums]

^Yeah see this is the problem at most parks.

 

When ops see something secure, they don't mind and think it's cool...even help out! But then upper managment sees the videos and yells because it's against park policy.

 

I do believe we'll have to pull all of these POV's because it is against the park rules. I also wish they would either train ops better or let the ops train management better! It's such a gray area.

[GuruGuys]

^Yeah see this is the problem at most parks.

 

When ops see something secure, they don't mind and think it's cool...even help out! But then upper managment sees the videos and yells because it's against park policy.

 

I do believe we'll have to pull all of these POV's because it is against the park rules. I also wish they would either train ops better or let the ops train management better! It's such a gray area.

 

No problem, I pulled it for you. It is a grey area. If they do not allow the device on the ride then the ride locker attendant will have to watch for them and ask for them to be removed. In addition, they will have to ask for watches and other secure devices that may take video to be removed as well. I imagine they will clarify policies for devices like this in the near future.

 

-GG

[robbalvey]

^ Thanks for doing that, even though in this case I kind of disagree with having to do it.

 

I do believe you that the ops saw your device and were probably fine with it, because it was secure. I do not believe you were sneaking your camera on at all, which a lot of people have been guilty of doing in the past.

 

The problem is that both Six Flags and Cedar Fair have asked us to police such things and help them enforce and spread the word about the policies. They have both told me that without a PR or senior management escort, "Cameras are not allowed on rides and any time for any reason!" And we absolutely have complied. Pulled POV videos that have been taken, given warnings to those who obviously snuck cameras on rides, and even had to report certain individuals to parks who continued to practice that kind of behavior.

 

But then there is the gray area like what you've encountered. A ride op, who's JOB it is to enforce the policies makes a decision on the fly to let something go. Then someone comes here and posts the videos because all they knew is that an employee at the park said it was fine and they didn't feel they did anything wrong.

 

Then I have to go be the bad guy and tell that some person to remove the videos. Honestly, as much as I don't mind helping the parks out to send the message about the policies, it's also not MY job to do it.

 

And it's frustrating to me when I see THOUSANDS of illegal videos posted to YouTube that the same parks who are telling me to police the rules don't seem to ask the same of sites that are far more visible to the public.

 

Most people who visit TPR know the park rules and obey them. It's the random "General Public" taking video on their cell phone then posting it to YouTube that need to be addressed.

 

I'll do my part as best as I can, but until the parks do a better job with training their employees where the line in the sand on these rules lay and go after ALL sites that have illegal videos posted, there is only so much I can do to help.

 

--Robb

[GuruGuys]

^ Thanks for doing that, even though in this case I kind of disagree with having to do it.

 

--Robb

 

Not a problem. Not only did I not try to sneak it in, I asked a ride op at every ride if there would be a problem with it. In the case of Knott's it was more than just the ride ops. There were people that wore different colored shirts and had walkie talkies on. I asked one of them what the difference between the shirt colors and he said the people like him go from ride to ride and audit throughout the day. Even this guy was cool with it. At Kemah Boardwalk I have worn it with park management knowing and since it is a secure item they have no problem with it.

 

Its moot at this point, and these rides have all been well filmed in the past anyway so its not like anyone is missing out on something.

 

-GG

[robbalvey]

I have worn it with park management knowing and since it is a secure item they have no problem with it.

I totally agree! I have my "lipstick wrist cam rig" that many parks have been totally cool with...

 

 

That is a totally secure object and it's not going ANYWHERE unless my hand goes with it!

 

Before my discussions with senior management of some park chains I would run into the same thing you encountered all the time where some ops say it's just fine, and others say it's not fine. (Alton Towers approved it!)

 

At the end of the day, it does say at every ride at SFMM (even Sky Tower) that "No Cameras are Allowed." It doesn't specifiy what kind of camera, just that *NONE* are allowed. So really, there is no argument.

 

I have been told that we as enthusaists should respect that and abide by it at all times regardless of what a ride op tells you.

 

But I also think it's the parks responsibility to make sure the ride ops pay attention to their guests and enforce those rules for EVERYONE regardless of the circumstance if they expect for them to be taken seriously.

 

--Robb

[Team Thriller]

^

I have heard of cases that when the ride op lets a person POV the coaster, and then the person is leaving the ride, they get caught by the parks manager, and they ask him to leave.

Then when they tell that the op said it was okay, they don't give you mercy.

It probably doesn't happen a lot but I've heard it happened a few times.

 

Disney is one firm that this doesn't seem to be a problem with.

 

--James

[Absimilliard]

The prize for dumbest idiot who tried to film on a ride goes to this spanish (from Spain) guy who on Star Tours at DLP decides, right after the ride started, to take this HUGE camera out and it has a huge external light! The camera was a feet long and the light was so bright we could barely see on the camera! I was in the control tower and did an announce. French, english, some words in italian (I had asked a collegue on how to say that in italian), nothing works and at this point, the people in the cabin are starting to make gestures so he would stop! I call the cast member who was running that bay and we agreed it was better to stop the flight and see what the deal was.

 

I stop the flight, he gets in and the guest with the camera starts screaming at him! It got so bad management and security got involved and eventually, they let him stay in the park only if he surrendered his camera to Lost and Found for the rest of the day and that he stayed quiet.

[Sue]

Great TR! I'm sure that took quite some time to write, but I certainly enjoyed reading it.

 

For those that go to SFMM frequently, how often do they run both sides of Colossus at the same time? I'm just curious since we've never seen it the couple times we've visited. When they do run both sides, do they try to dispatch them at the same time? We're one of the few who actually love Colossus, but I'm sure we'd enjoy it even more if both sides were racing.

[robbalvey]

^ The only time I've seen both sides running is during Fright Fest in the past few years.

 

--Robb

[Nosferatu]

Very good trip report. Nice to see a trip report that foucs primarilly on the rides for a change

[TheRapidsNerd]

Seems PoVs are as dicey an issue as ever. Even Alabama Adventure (Visionland) went thumbs down on it, particularly on Wild River Gorge.

 

It's almost easier just to stick to off-ride filming, period. Don't bother asking for on-ride. Almost certainly no and just too many side problems that spin up.

 

As for YouTube, if Universal can quickly yank the leaked Simpson's ride footage, they may also go after other ride PoVs. Same for Six Flags and Cedar Fair. Just a question of time.

[GuruGuys]

^ The only time I've seen both sides running is during Fright Fest in the past few years.

 

--Robb

 

What about the Deja Vu lines? Do they always make it where you can't choose which seat you want to be in? Is this common among this type of ride and why do they do it this way?

 

-GG

[ebl]

I've only waited in Deja Vu's "regular" line once, and we were assigned to a particular seat. Ever since, I use the single-rider line---and get assigned to a seat anyway.

 

But at least I don't wait as long.

 

Eric

[Revolucion]

The park had just opened and it was pretty much a ghost town

 

You win a prize for most brilliant metaphor.

 

It's too bad that Superman is not able to run as it was designed without breaking down. Hopefully Superman is included in the five-year plan to be able to go 100MPH again. If it can't be fixed the park would probably be better off using the tower for something else.

 

The Gold Rusher gum pile has been around since the late 70's at least. It is revolting now, but I was sad that it was cleaned up on one of my visits in the early 80's. This seems like an easy fix to keep clean by having it scraped off each night and then pressure washed.

 

I didn't know that SFMM added soaker guns to the log flume. I hope they have some sort of policy that turns them off at night and on cold days. My family's first trip to Islands of Adventure was almost ruined because they were running on Ripsaw Falls with an outside temperature of 50 degrees. But they can be very fun on a hot day.

[GuruGuys]

I am reposting my POV from my visit at Knott's Berry Farm a few weeks ago. After the replys in this thread alerted me to a possible violation of park rules I took the POV down then contacted the park for clarification. I received this response:

 

The main reason for the no picture or video taking on the rides is

because of cell phones, cameras, or video cameras being used and the

high probability that they become separated from the rider. Of course,

safety is our number one priority and we would not want someone on the

vehicle or on the ground to be struck by a falling object. In your

case, it would not have been a problem, because the video camera you are using is secured around your wrist, just like any other wrist watch.

 

If you were to use a cell phone, camera, or video camera to obtain your

footage, then it would be a violation of Knott's Berry Farm policies.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joey Toyoshiba

Manager

Park Operations

Knott's Berry Farm

 

So as I read it, as long as you don't sneak a device on a ride and the ride operators allow the device Knott's Berry Farm is OK with using it. Hopefully some of the other parks will provide similair clarification.

Boomerang peacefully awaits unsuspecting victims.

Close up of train paintjob.

Another rider return shot, this one with a bit of train #2 sitting on the transfer track. The paint and decor on these trains are the best I've seen.

It's nice to be able to see everyones reaction when the ride is finished. Too many coasters leave the riders out on the brake run out of sight and by the time they return everyone looks bored.

The ride operators at Knott's were always happy, smiling and having a great time with the patrons and each other.

Xcellerator from the Queue. Pictures like this are becoming harder to get at parks that require you to lock up your items before entering the queue.

My camera told me it was love at first sight.

The Jaguar queue was just as empty.

Loop apex.

Silver Bullet was the first inverted coaster my friend had ridden.

First up was Silver Bullet. The queues were empty but they still had 5 ride ops loading the few riders very quickly.

KnottsPOV.wmv

POV of Silver Bullet (camera stapped on ankle), Jaguar, Supereme Scream (camera strapped around ankle), Xcellerator, Boomerang.