Photo TR: Sea World San Antonio & SFFT

[christianscoasters]

PLEASE NOTE: The 'Believe' show pictures are not up yet, but I will get them up soon!

 

Today, we went to Sea World San Antonio!

 

My mom hates lines. She hates waiting. I do too, especially with severe ADHD and anger issues. Because of this, I looked at everything I could to find a way to avoid lines. Get there early, eat at irregular times, start at the back of the park. Did she listen? No. We got to the park around 10:15. Long long long line to get into the parking lot. We get to the gate, didn't have to wait because we already had tickets. $32 a piece! We get in, and the place is PACKED. To the point where I felt we were waiting in a line just to move. My mom broke her foot recently, so she has a walking boot. We rented a wheelchair, which sucked having to push her around everywhere, but it had it's advantages, which I'll explain later.

 

We went to the Dolphin Cove first. Not too packed. The dolphins weren't very active, but one of them was in the mood for some rubbin, so splashed some kids, then hopped up on the side for everyone to rub him. He smiled too! (Picture of that below)

 

Next, we went to see 'The Cannery Row Caper', with sea lions, otters, and a walrus. The show had pre-antics, which kept the crowd entertained. It was a cute show. I loved it a lot. The walrus actually did sit-ups.

 

After that, we went to go see the line for Steel Eel. The line was so far out of the quene, it was right by the first drop. For those of you who have been to SW, you would know that that is a LONG line. I was really angry because I told my mom many times that we should get to the park early and avoid these kinds of things. So we scrapped that idea, and went to Penguin Encounter. Nothing too special. Just penguins. But I liked how they had a moving walkway, that way everyone didn't stand there so no one else could see.

 

BELIEVE!!! This is the Shamu show. Absolutely amazing. My mom and I had goosebumps, but that's the drama queen in us. I loved it a lot. The audio was way too loud, but the show itself was great. I loved it.

 

What did we do after that? I can't remember. I think we went to eat. My mom wanted to get lunch at about 12:30, which I had told her it is best to eat at irregular lunch times to avoid lines. Her response, "There's going to be lines all day." Yes, but they will be shorter, and they were.

 

The beginning of the day was horrible. I wanted to leave. No rides, too many people, I was so mad. But it got better.

 

We didn't get to see the 'Viva!' show.

 

Steel Eel's line moved quickly. While I ended up waiting around an hour, it didn't seem like it. I went to the back seat. I get up to the station gates, and these two kids, about 12 probably, decide to shove their way in front of me. See, I HATE when people cut in front of me, especially after waiting an hour in the heat, having a miserable day. I kindly asked them if it was okay to have my spot back, but no. They decided to throw a pissy-fit, call me "nigga" eight million times, tell the ride op how I kept shoving them to cut in front of them, and then they wanted to talk to the supervisor. Here's where it got worse. There were a group of 4 girls in the line next to me. Around 12-15 age wise. So the oldest girl very kindly asks me if her friends can go in front of me, and she explained that they want to ride together. See, I have no problem with this. Being kindly asked if they can ride with their friends. If they are going to be very sweet and just ask me, and tell me why they want to, then sure, I'm not going to be mean and say no. This irritated the two boys who kept cutting. I was moving out of the way so the girls could get in front of me, and one of the kids touched my ass, I looked back, said, "Sorry" and he puts his hand up and starts slowly stepping back saying "Whoa whoa whoa" over and over again. I told him, "I'm moving away so they can get in front of me. Get over it." That shut him up ... for about 3 seconds. Then he's mad because the girls get in front of me. Of course, they lie to op a little bit more, angering everyone around me (at them, not me) and finally everyone yells at them, "JUST GO!". Ugh.

 

The coaster itself - AMAZING!!! My second Morgan "hyper". I've been on Mamba at WoF, The West Coaster in Santa Monica (but IDK if that's a hyper). I was expecting this coaster to be "meh", so I sat in the backseat for a few pops of air. I was wrong. EJECTOR air. The car flew over the crest of the lift and ejected my out of the seat when I wasn't even dropping. I had my hands up, but quickly put them down. It terrified me! So much airtime throughout the whole ride! AMAZING!!! Oh ya, it e-stopped several times during the day.

 

Great White - This ride also e-stopped several times. The wait was only about 10-20 minutes. This is my 3rd B&M invert, and my 2nd B:TR clone. What can I say? So forceful and awesome! I get to ride my 4th B&M invert, and 3rd B:TR clone on Thursday. Wheee!

 

Journey to Atlantis - Slow moving line. Good thing we didn't have to wait in it See, having a cripple moves you to the front of the line. My mom wanted to ride (Odd, considering how she HATES coasters, and is disappointed in SW having roller coasters. I'm dead serious.), so we asked the guy at the entrance where the disabled entrance was. He told us, we went there, and had no wait! My mom felt bad about cutting in front of everyone. The ride itself was better than I expected. I loved going backwards down the dip, and my mom even put her hands up! Yes, airtime. The big drop had airtime too! I put my hands up as well. I didn't get that wet, but my mom was SOAKED. She loved it!

 

Overall, I had a good day, but only because I got on rides. There were way too many people. As we were giving the wheelchair back to SW (We rented one) the guy working there struck up a conversation. He said they weren't expecting this many people. All I can say is, NEVER go to Sea World on Spring Break. EVER. San Antonio had their spring break last week, but this is everyone else's. I can't do anything about crowds, but I can eliminate waiting, but my mom just didn't understand. But we all had a great day.

 

Oh yeah, there were TONS of people from Wichita there! (I live in Wichita, KS). The dude at the ticket counter asked where we were from, we told him, and he said there were lots of Wichita people. There was someone at the Manta Ray exhibits from Wichita who got to ask a question to the diver, and get this, I saw someone wearing a shirt for my orthodontist. THAT'S weird.

 

What's that I see?

 

STEEL EEL!!!

 

We have arrived.

 

This would be the beginning of many very long lines during our visit.

 

I spy with my little eye ...

 

Credit!!! ... Or is it?

 

Before the ticket booths

 

Entrance gate. Not as big as I thought it would be, but still very impressive!

 

The fountain. Looks deserted, right?

 

Wrong.

 

You're still wrong.

 

This was one of the lines to move.

 

Next, we headed to Dolphin Cove.

 

 

 

This dude was chillin' in the water, then decided to scare some kids, get on the ledge, and get some rubbin. See, he's smiling!

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-show stuff before the "Sea Lion" show.

 

 

 

Mom enjoying the show.

 

 

Bestiality.

 

The dude who did the pre-show stuff got soaked. Hehe

 

 

 

Walrus-dude was cool. He actually did sit-ups!

 

Steel Eel ... THROUGH THE TREES!!! I didn't ride Steel Eel until a lot later, but I'm just gonna go ahead and post the pics now.

 

Stopped on the lift ...

 

PART of the line.

 

Ever wondered what a station looks like?

 

 

GREAT WHITE:

 

Stopped on the lift.

 

 

JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS:

 

[atem122]

Wow you really got some great signature shots there, sorry about the bad day, I was at Disneyland Sunday and it was way more crowded than I expected, although SW seemed worse from your pictures.

[christianscoasters]

^Thanks! I love photography. In all honesty, these aren't good shots, in my opinion. Hopefully I can get better at SFFT. After looking at the pictures, I realized that they really don't show how crowded it was. There were times when we would be on a regular pathway, and it was like L.A. traffic -- STOPPED. Not moving. Every now and then you can move an inch or so. What sucked is that my mom was in a wheelchair, so we couldn't squeeze through people. The guy working at wheelchair rental said they expected crowds, but they were just shocked at how many people were there. Shocking staff? Ya, it's crowded.

 

I'm going to Six Flags on Thursday. Hopefully it won't be as crowded. There's more to do, so lines wouldn't be as bad as SW, and hardly anyone knows it's open, this Thursday from what I've observed. We were going to go on Sunday, since it was the only day it was open when we would be here. but me, being the coaster-freak, was on Six Flags' website every day, and SFFT decided to add two extra days! So we will be going on Thursday.

[CreditCrazy]

In all honesty, these aren't good shots, in my opinion.

 

I really like them, especially the Great White ones. Too bad it was busy, but at least you got the credits, or almost all of them (no kiddie credit?). I can't wait to see the SFFT pictures, hopefully it won't be busy.

[christianscoasters]

In all honesty, these aren't good shots, in my opinion.

 

I really like them, especially the Great White ones. Too bad it was busy, but at least you got the credits, or almost all of them (no kiddie credit?). I can't wait to see the SFFT pictures, hopefully it won't be busy.

 

I wanted the kiddie credit, but I wasn't able to. I told my mom I wanted to ride, she laughed, of course. Then, I asked if I can, she said no.

[YoshiFan]

Those pictures look just like my trip to Sea World Orlando in 2004. They actually had employees directing the flow of traffic in the park.

 

It was horrible, you had to get to a show 1 1/2 - 2 hours early or you couldn't get in, Kraken was over an hour (I didn't ride as I wasn't riding big coasters then), Journey was 45 minutes but it was 55 out so I skipped it.

[themeparkman25]

Great update! Thanks for posting...

 

-I thought that SeaWorld and more specifically Busch entertainment removed the "Here's to the heroes" campaign or am I getting mistaken for the removal of the hospitality houses?

 

-Is it just me or does Steel Eel have almost too massive of supports?

[christianscoasters]

Great update! Thanks for posting...

 

-I thought that SeaWorld and more specifically Busch entertainment removed the "Here's to the heroes" campaign or am I getting mistaken for the removal of the hospitality houses?

 

-Is it just me or does Steel Eel have almost too massive of supports?

 

They did have the 'Here's to the heroes'.

 

Anheuser-Busch merchandise was 50% off.

 

I thought Steel Eel's supports were cool. Ya, they might be a little thick, and have way more than they need, but they were really big which was still cool to be standing by. Just shows how massive the ride is.

[themeparkman25]

^I saw the banner hanging in the entry poster, but I thought that Busch did away with that whole campaign as a whole. I am probably wrong though.

 

And I am not arguing there "cool factor", I am just thinking that the ride has to have one of the most unique support set up I have seen.

[PKI Jizzman]

Great to hear such positive reviews from the coasters and the park! I can't wait to visit during the Texas trip!

 

-JZ

[Looty]

Nice report.

I was down in Texas on my spring break last week and all of the parks were empty...especially Sea World. Everything was a walk on. I also loved the sea lion show (especially the walrus doing the sit-ups).

[Sir Clinksalot]

Wow, some great shots. Man, that park looks busy.

[christianscoasters]

So yeah, it shouldn't be very crowded, especially since they just added those days to their operating schedule.

 

That's what I'm hoping. Every now and then, especially the hotel we're at, someone will strike up a conversation about their vacation, and ask about yours etc. Whenever someone mentions SFFT, they always went on Sunday. Everyone I've talked to said they didn't know it's open on Thursday, even people who live here!

 

I think it's because the tourists check the dates weeks ahead of time before actually coming here. They don't re-check like I do, at least as frequently. The brochures don't say it's open, the hotel newsletter doesn't say it, so I think it won't be that bad of a day.

 

I'm worried not many rides will be open though, because I'm sure the park isn't expecting lots of people.

[ChrisZer0]

Its like most SF parks this time of year, they have limited weekday hours they dont advertise (usually 10a-6p) outside of the spring break window. They have alot of smaller school groups (daycares, MDOs, homeskools, ect..) visiting. Nothing like seeing a bunch of crying tots riding the Texas Giant to make your day much brighter

[larrygator]

I have been to SFFT twice during the first weekend in April (2005 + 2008). On both occasions not every coaster was operating when the park opened. I don't know if some coasters were closed until noon for routine maintenance or if it was pre-planned stagggered openings.

[cpfan101]

The reason for the lines is due to low staffing due to the fact that all San Antonio schools (AKA theme park workers) had their spring break last week while the rest of Texas and everywhere else has their spring break this week. It's really messed up.

[christianscoasters]

^Believe it or not, the place had just the right amount of staff. There were five people working Steel Eel, and they got trains out quickly! Within a minute of the train arriving in the station, it was getting dispatched. They did great! Great White had stacking all day, but it is a short ride, and that I understand.

[hemmy]

SFOT and the Dallas Zoo were both absolutely packed this week as well, no idea why (other than the fact its spring break) [especially the Zoo, that was ridiculous]

[coastersrule85]

Great photos! I too love Steel Eel; it's one of my favorite coasters. I'm glad you shared your trip because after my trip to SFOT I was thinking of heading to San Antonio later this week instead of making another trip to Arlington. Now, I think I'll wait a while.

SFOT was extremely crowded Wednesday. Everything had very long lines. But I do have to say, even though it is early in the season and the crowd was unbelievable, everything went very smoothly. All of the ride ops were very professional and kept things moving along. I've seen a rather marked improvement in this for the past few years. What I was even more pleased with were the people working in shops, and food booths (except for one schmo at the season pass processing building who took his job a bit too seriously). They were very friendly and fun to chat with. It was nice to see Mr. Six back scaring the little children. Oh, and the park was very clean to boot! Also, I must also mention that the coupon book with the season passes is much better this year. Hope you have a Six Flags day!

[dino]

Nice report. Love the shot of Steel Eel through the trees. You almost can't tell which are trees and which are supports.

[ChrisZer0]

SFOT and the Dallas Zoo were both absolutely packed this week as well, no idea why (other than the fact its spring break) [especially the Zoo, that was ridiculous]

 

Probably because the Ft. Worth Zoo was packed to capacity I live in Dallas and dont use our zoo just on principle. I'll take a TRE train/Bus to Ft. Worth or drive over to hit the zoo there...

[christianscoasters]

^Damn, we were HORRIBLY wrong!!! Lol. How did you get your pass processed? That line was LONG. I mean several hours long, JUST to get your pass processed.

 

I'm gonna wait until tomorrow night to post pictures, but here's my experience:

 

My mom made the mistake of going to the parking booths rather than the "drop off" area. It was about 10:10 now. Well, there were SO MANY cars. We couldn't turn around, so we had to go to the ticket booths and ask how to get to the drop off. It's now 10:30. The park just opened, and rides are going. Now we're going to have some bigger lines.

 

We get to the PACKED entrance, only to wait in line 15 minutes to actually get in the park. We already had tickets. $25 a piece.

 

First, we headed to Rattler. On the way, I noticed all the AWESOME themeing! The place is very nicely decorated and there are lots of details to buildings and what not. We get to Rattler, it was testing, but not open yet. So we went to Road Runner Express. Only about a 2-train wait. This ride was short, but it was really fun! We enjoyed it. Later in the day, the line got longer of course.

 

I think we headed to Superman Krypton Coaster after that. 30 minutes. We went to the front row. GREAT coaster! Lots of airtime, great forces, awesome ride. Enjoyed it! The line hardly moved because there was only two people working the ride. One in the booth, one checking restraints. The dude went so slow too. Later in the day, the line filled the "quene house" or whatever it's called, and was out of the quene and by Johnny Rockets. Yes, long lines.

 

Hmm ... I'm not sure of the order of what we did, so I'll just post my thoughts about the rides.

 

Scream: Didn't get to ride. Not enough time. Only had one tower open.

 

Tony Hawk: Oh yeah, I rode Tony Hawk. The Boardwalk opened at 1, and it was about 12:55, so I decided we better head over there to avoid lines. We got to the coaster with about a 20-minute wait. It got longer after us. Great coaster! Lots of air, good forces. I really enjoyed it.

 

Frisbee: Starts out GREAT, gets "okay", then gets good. Eh. I enjoyed the airtime at the beginning.

 

Poltergeist: Testing before the park opened, but didn't open until about 2:30 or so. We waited TWO HOURS in line for this ride. The line hardly moved, stacking was crazy, but the themeing was very nice. This is my second launched coaster. My first being Superman: The Escape (SFFM). I enjoyed the launch. Made my stomach tickle, but not the airtime feeling, lol. The ride is a bit bumpy, but not too bad. Very forceful, really disorients you. I thought it was really nice. Goes VERY fast throughout all the elements.

 

Boomerang: Didn't get to ride. Not enough time. I've been on two Boomerang coasters already, so it wasn't as important to me as the other coasters.

 

Goliath: I've been on a coaster that survived a hurricane! Yay! Wait was about 30-45 minutes. My 3rd B:TR coaster, my 4th B&M invert. It was great! The colors really stand out, and it's a very photogenic coaster. I still prefer Patriot at WoF though.

 

Rattler: We waited 1.5 hours for this. We got off at about 6:55. Park closed at 7. The only thing "rattling" about this coaster is the chiropractor bill you will get later. This coaster SUCKED. EXTREMELY rough. So rough, I couldn't even find a way to enjoy it. I couldn't even smile on it. I couldn't see straight because of the bumps. No, I'm not being a drama queen. It was awful.

 

The park:

-Lockers: I understand you *HAVE* to use lockers, which I think using them can really help. It helped us with stuff, but not when you almost get your stuff taken out. They take things out after they haven't been opened in 120 minutes. We waited in the line for Poltergeist, rode, and just barely made it before the 120 minutes was up. What if the line is longer than 2 hours? Because after us, the line DID get longer. They must leave things in a locker, but they get it all taken out? WTF?! I didn't see this happen, yet I wasn't paying attention to the locker area.

-Themeing: AMAZING!!! GREAT park. Lots of fountains, and just random themeing. I loved Poltergeist's station. You can tell they really tried to make it look like a house.

-Staff: I understand that most of the staff is high school to college, and most of them were back in school today, causing the park to be understaffed, making longer lines. Most of the people working today were older than that age range. They all seemed to enjoy their jobs and were very polite. My only complaint: They did move kind of slow, especially the S:KC staff.

-General: It was small (size-wise), and I mean that in a good way. It has TONS of stuff to do, but isn't crowded together, and it isn't too hard to get from one side of the park to the other. I really liked that. There were lots of games to play, but we didn't play any. Umm, anything else, just ask!

 

EDIT: The played a lot of Hannah Montana in the park today. I'm sure that pissed a lot of people off, but I LOVE Hannah Montana, and the songs they played are my favorites!

[larrygator]

If you didn't get the roasted corn at Sea World or SFFT it was a wasted trip.

 

Seriously, SFFT is one of my favorite Six Flags parks. I'll be back during my Texas trip in 6 weeks.

[christianscoasters]

Screw it, I'm just gonna post the pictures now.

 

By the way, I didn't take many pictures. A lot of these, we were walking and I would take a picture, so they may not be straight and are a little bit blurry.

 

Waiting in line to get to the parking booths, only to turn around to go to the drop off.

 

The line for people who bought tickets in advance, rather than at the park. Yes, this line moved slowly.

 

On our way to go ride Rattler, only to find out it doesn't open until later.

 

So we rode Road Runner Express!

 

Don't worry, this was only temporary. It was only this small section of the park that didn't have people, and this was around 10:45-ish. It FILLED up later.

 

WTF?!?!

 

If I'm correct, this is Six Flags tv. It was actually entertaining at times.

 

This is Kasey, my mom's bf.

 

THEMEING!!!

 

It really DOES feel like a Main Street in this part of the park. Dashed roadways, working stoplights, stores, everything. It was so cool!

 

Probably the best part of the park. AMAZING!!!

 

I spy a rusty spot!

 

PAINTED FOOTER!!!

 

Lots of people here today.

 

I took this picture in the afternoon. If you look in the back, that is the five-lane road filled with cars in line to get to the parking toll booths.

 

Sexy cars.

 

If you can't tell, I LOVE to use the zoom feature on my camera : )

 

I was trying to get a picture of this plaza area, but I retook it after I looked at the picture and saw this dude eerily staring at me.

 

MUCH better!

 

Like I've said, the only thing this thing rattles is your chiropractor bill. Bad joke, I know, but my back did hurt

 

The Boardwalk is AMAZING!!!

 

I thought this was a skateboarding roller coaster?

 

I was hoping I could get the coaster in action here, but I couldn't.

I see a roller coaster.

 

Boomerang's cool looking footer.

 

IDK if you can tell or not, but this is one of those rides (forget the name) where a kid (or an adult hehe) can steer a car on the track. I took this picture because Six Flags decided to make a billboard. I thought that was cool and added themeing to the ride, but no. It's a Six Flags ad.

 

Didn't give my camera enough time to auto-focus.

 

Lol. Well Goliath *IS* recycled These photos coming up next, I like a lot. On my computer, I've been zooming in on people's faces. It's really cool because I can see their expressions.

 

 

I think that's all!

[the ghost]

Those are some awesome shots. Thanks to you, I now have a nerdy background(computer) picture on my computer.