THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I decided to go to SFGAM today before I had to work at 2:00 and i have to say it was a very pleasant experience, the staff was great, they were welcoming everybody to Great America and asking how every body's day was. Other than season pass processing center things went very well. The park is trying to be the cleanest theme park in the world, they have banners all over the park for everybody to read. The park was very clean but not up to Holiday World or Disney's standards. The crowds were very light (almost no people their at all so the waits were next to none. I had 13 rides on Raging Bull, i sat in the 5Th row and rode 7 times before i got up. I had 4 rides on Viper, 2 on SUF, 2 on the Whizzer, 4 on Batman, 1 on raging Cajun, 1 on the American Eagle, and 1 on BTDK, I passed on the Iron Wolf. Raging Bull was running 2 trains, BTR was running 1, SUf was running 1, the American Eagle was running 2 (Red side), V2's train was no were to be found ( it was doing it's Deja Vu impression). Raging Bull ran well and I'm happy to report that the trims were on light, the ride was almost the way is ran the first few years the ride was open. Viper had some minor track work done. Raging Bull also has a new entrance sign for its tenth birthday, Over all the park had allot of improvements from last year, and the staff seemed to be more helpful and friendly er that before so it should be a great season. I hope you enjoy, now on to the pictures. The red train waiting to be put on the storage track. The new Ragging Bull sign The new Johnny Rockets by the Demon. not much has changed with the Splash Water Falls site. Buccaneer Battle the spot were the old Splash Water Fall sign was. new for this vienna hot dogs. the banners saying cleanest theme park in the world. A new Fiddler Fling sign. see no train to be found. Batman ran well like Batman their were a ton of these recycle can for plastic bottles. see all the trash cans. SFGAM is doing their Cedar Fair impression. the new cyber cafe . Still no change on the Splash Water Falls site. Here are the Flash Passes for 09. Whizzer through the tress Viper is still a awesome ride Viper had some miner track repair. the new lookers for Viper. Raging ran well today. Demon New sign and train. see empty station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrX8991 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Nice trip report. Good to hear Raging Bull is running a little wilder. By the way, does anybody know why Great America sometimes runs Batman without any wheel covers? I usually notice one train with the wheel covers on and another with the covers off, but sometimes both are on. Does anybody know why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^ That Batman train didn't have the wheel covers at last year ether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 It looks to me that Raging Bull also has been repainted. Are those new trains as well, or have they just been spruced up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFGAm Shock Wave Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^ Bull was repainted for 2008. As for Batman, basically, the Batman wheel covers are not a priority. They have no impact on the operation of the ride, they are purely for cosmetic reasons. They probably won't be put back on until the other B&M's have all their trains running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^ They painted RB last year and replaced the lap bars and seats last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Nice trip report and photos. It is nice to see so many little improvements since the park was beginning to look a little rough around the edges. Buccaneer Battle looks like it might look a lot nicer than I thought which is good, but the old Splash Water Falls site is still a black eye for that area of the park. It is great to hear Raging Bull is running great again this year, and hopefully it stays that way. I don't know which I'm excited for more, Buccaneer Battle or Vienna Beef hot dogs. The new Cyber Cafe looks nice too. The only bad things I saw were the Flash Pass prices, look probably $10+ more for Gold than last year, and the overkill on the trashcans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrX8991 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^ They painted RB last year and replaced the lap bars and seats last season. Yeah, and they actually did a kind of sloppy job doing it. When I was there last May, there were drips of orange paint everywhere in the queue line due to fresh paint dripping off the track. I thought it was kind of funny. I forgot to mention that you were smart for skipping Iron Wolf. I think that is the one ride I may never ride again it hurt me so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^^ Ill post the Flash Pass prices form last year when I get home, I don't think they went up much if they did at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^I only bought a Flash Pass once last year, regular during Fright Fest, but the prices seem higher now than at the start of last season. This year's prices seem to be around the prices of Fright Fest last year, and I figured that prices were raised for Fright Fest because of supply and demand. Maybe prices increased some time in the middle of the season last year, and I just didn't notice. I'm just sure that prices rose between opening day 2008 and opening day 2009. Since Viper is now on the Flash Pass system, I'm more willing to hand over $64 for a Gold Pass. Oh well, nice to see crowds are light, and hopefully I can find the time to go to the park before crowds pick up. There have been zero commercials for the park, so I doubt most of the public knows that the park opened a month early. V2 was down since the train is being rebuilt, and some parts didn't come in until a few days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 Nice trip report. Good to hear Raging Bull is running a little wilder. By the way, does anybody know why Great America sometimes runs Batman without any wheel covers? I usually notice one train with the wheel covers on and another with the covers off, but sometimes both are on. Does anybody know why? I think the only reason that Raging Bull Ran the way it did today was due to low 40's temperatures and the wind, I'm sure those trims will be on a lot harder when the weather warms up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airtime&Gravity Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^I'm pretty sure trims have nothing to do with the weather and a ride's performance except in rare instances. In all my rides on Raging Bull last year, probably at least 30, the trims only had a noticeable effect a few times. Even then, I think there might have been only one time when the trims were on hard. So I'd expect it to run well for most of the season unless the park decides to go back to the way the ride used to be. There are at least 20-25 trashcans, that seems to be more than a CF park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 I guess I was wrong on the Flash Passes, unless they forgot to change the prices back after Fright Fest, witch i doubt that. Anyway here are the photos. and these are the prices for Fright Fest 2008. Here are the prices from the Regular season 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixflagsguy5 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 I guess I really didn't miss much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looty Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 WTF!...Raging Bull's new sign looks absolutely terrible!!! It looks like someone (probably a toddler) cut out the logo from somewhere and glued it on to that giant piece of wood. The old sign was much better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 I guess I really didn't miss much. Actually It was one of the best opening days in years, last years being the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^I'm pretty sure trims have nothing to do with the weather and a ride's performance except in rare instances. In all my rides on Raging Bull last year, probably at least 30, the trims only had a noticeable effect a few times. Even then, I think there might have been only one time when the trims were on hard. So I'd expect it to run well for most of the season unless the park decides to go back to the way the ride used to be. There are at least 20-25 trashcans, that seems to be more than a CF park. I talked with one of the mechanics ( I personally knew this person) when they were putting the second train on. he said they do this at when their is colder weather so the train does not vallyed, remember before the park opened 2007 the train vallyed just days before opening day. This is why the the trims are on light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 Thanks for the TR. I'm looking forward to my trip there tomorrow. I am hoping there won't be a crowd either, but from the looks of it I shouldnt worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 ^ I wouldn't worry about it, their shouldn't be to many people their even on a Saturday, remember the park opened a month earlier than previous years. You should get on every thing but easily accept V2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedten Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 The blue American Eagle training was testing throughout the morning and running by 2:00pm. V2 is still down. Raging Bulls trims were on very hard. Both the Woodies were running more smoothly than I ever remember them running in the past. Viper was a walk-on and they didn't even make us get out of the train. We got a reride because there was no one in the station. Raging Bull however had empty rows and they wouldn't let us reride. The ride ops on Dark Knight held out napkins for us to put our gum into while we were moving out of the station. We rode Viper twice and Raging Bull 3 times all in less than 90 minutes! They're really trying hard to clean their image up with the cleanest park signes, mr. six dancing, and super nice employees. This was the best SFGAm experience I have ever had besides the season Raging Bull opened Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kumba830 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 ^To bad Bull had one train this morning, if it did I'm sure you would have been able to re-ride Home town fun machine was also downs today But here is the shocker... I went up to ride superman in the middle of the day ...WALK ON! I never thought i would see the day when there was no line for superman. As well as when my friends and I marathon Viper till we got bored (12 re-rides without getting out of our seats) Today was one of the best days I have ever had at SFGAm and it will be hard to beat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE ONE Posted April 5, 2009 Author Share Posted April 5, 2009 ^Yeah Friday was great to it was even better when they added the second train onto Raging Bull. I went to go to the park today and it was closed my coupon book said the park was open so when i got home i checked online and it said it was closed today. I know when i looked a couple of weeks ago it said the park would be open 10-5, oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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