Seattle and North California adventures

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

My family and I are off to California and we're leaving on the plane from Seattle, WA. There's a small pay-per-ride amusement park called Fun Forest at the Seattle Center in front of the Space Needle that we pay a visit to. Fun Forest is going to be gone after this year so I won't be able to get the credits (which are only 2 anyways) if I don't get them now.

 

The only real non kiddie rides there are a knockoff HUSS Top Spin made by Soriani & Moser that hasn't been running for along time, an Orbiter, a Wisdom Rides Tornado, and the SDC Windstorm rollercoaster. They got a log flume too and it was running well that day but I didn't ride because I didn't want to get wet.

 

After we buy our ride tickets it's time for the first credit of the day. The Rainbow Chaser kiddie coaster, also known as the rusty metal death trap! This coaster looks like its homemade, sort of like High Speed Thrill Coaster at Knoebels (minus the cheesy name). This thing literally screeches and rattles every time it goes up the tiny lift hill and it feels like it's going to derail any second! I'm surprised so many parents are letting their children on this rusty death trap! The ride ops look like a bunch of carnies who don't know what they're doing. A kid sitting at the front of the train was able to stand up completely and the ride ops didn't seem to give a care.

 

Around the area of Rainbow Chaser is a merry-go-round, some kiddie bumper cars, a cute little kiddie pirate ship, a building with a frog hopper, lazer tag, kiddie animal ride, and bumper cars inside. All of which I didn't ride. I noticed that on the bumper cars a few rider put the strap around their necks. Ride ops didn't give a crap again. This whole park seems quite unsafe in general.

 

Next up, the Zamperla Galleon (pirate ship). It's quite small and doesn't have much airtime even though I sat at the end. It's not that good of a ride really, but perhaps something for those over 48 inches that have overgrown the kiddie pirate ship? My dad says that he felt like he could even fall asleep on it if he was tired enough. Of all the swinging ships I've been on so far, the HUSS Pirate at Playland has the best airtime.

 

Finally, the highlight of this place and the second credit. The SDC Windstorm rollercoaster, a fun one indeed! Uses Schwartzkopf style trains, like the ones used on the Jet Star coasters. So many head choppers on this ride! I was afraid to put my arms up and my dad felt like he was going to hit his head or something! Despite the rusty track, it was a pretty smooth ride. Since Fun Forest is going to be gone after this year, I hope Playland decides to buy it from them so it doesn't get scrapped. It's one of the last few SDC coasters left.

 

I didn't ride the Wisdom Tornado or the Orbiter either. I hear Orbiter is pretty intense (looks intense too) but I didn't want to get motion sickness. Those types of rides make me sick so I just tend to avoid them when possible.

 

After the rides we decide to take a look through the Space Needle gift shop as well as the Experience Music Project, a museum dedicated to music throughout the years. I didn't take any pictures of the exhibits as they said no cameras allowed. On the way back to the hotel after dinner at the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant (good food), we passed by Wild Waves Theme Park (former Six Flags park) but it was closed. Otherwise I could have gotten more credits. Perhaps after coming back San Francisco? Next park theme park stop, California's Great America.

Artsy photo attempt.

Since the Experiance Music Project was connected to the Science Fiction Museum, I noticed this washroom sign right outside the entrance to the Sci Fi museum. I guess robots and aliens are welcome too.

Yep, I got one of these.

They sell astronaut food in the Space Needle gift shop.

A credit for dad too!

Zamperla Galleon.

Cute little kid's pirate ship.

Rainbow Chaser back seat.

Log Flume.

They had a Ferris Wheel too, but I didn't ride.

Main reason I'm here.

Proof of manufacturer of the Top Spin.

Space Needle

[paulie123]

Looks like a fun little park.. Haha. The windstorm coaster looks fun.

[MattC]

Good stuff, I look foward to the rest of your report. I was looking at the park's your off to next and there's about 20 coasters isn't there?! Plenty of creidts

[the ghost]

LOL, your dad either looks really bored or really confused. Is the "deth drop" on this coaster as intesnse as everyone says, becasue if somehow fun forest gets bought or something in the future, a norcal road trip may be in the works for next summer(unless I can convince my dad to let me go on a tpr trip)

 

I am liking this TR so far, and you are lucky you are getting so many credits this summer(I got 2 today, but may only get like 10 more) have an awesome time on Flight Deck(supposedly awesome) and also, have a good time loosing your canadian GCI virginity.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

That death drop is quite intense alright. Especially with all those headchoppers like that. As for convincing your dad to let you go on a TPR trip, I'm in the same boat as you.

 

I will be losing my GCI virginity. Can't wait!

[paulie123]

Im yet to loose my GCI virginity too! Next year I get some Terminator Salvation action though. Looks like a great ride to loose it on

[atem122]

Great tr so far, which Cali park(s) are you hitting up?

[ebl]

The Windstorm looks like the very same model that the Santa Cruz boardwalk has, which I've ridden and enjoy. I'm sure your dad had a good time despite the look on his face...

 

 

On a side note, Diana used to collect these. I ran all over the World Showcase at Epcot to get her one from each country (and succeeded!). And I got her a Windjammer one at Knott's long after that ride even closed!

 

Eric

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

The next stop on our San Francisco trip was California’s Great America. CGA in my opinion looks like a “smaller version of Carowinds” (especially the smaller versions of Flight Deck/Afterburn and Vortex). Unfortunately, to start off the day bad, the coaster loving people who were supposed to tag along with us had other plans so only me and dad went (and mom who was the photographer). We arrived at 10:10 am and it wasn’t packed as we got there early. I was a bit disappointed with this trip as we were tight on time (had to leave by 3:30 for a family thing) which meant we had to miss a few rides that I really wanted to go on including 2 credits (Psycho Mouse and Taxi Jam), HMB Endeavor, Bayernkurve, Flying Eagles, Survivor, Delirium and especially Firefall. At least I got all the major coasters and Drop Tower.

 

The first credit of the day, Vortex, was literally a walk-on. We passed by Firefall too but Dad said that we won’t have time. It looks like it’s got a lot better program than my local park’s Top Spin. Is Vortex normally unpopular or is it just because it was early? In my opinion it was way too short. The one at Carowinds looks better. I didn’t find it too rough though, just some B&M rattle. Dad loved it though, as it’s his first time on a standup. Before that, he said he would never ride a standup. This is my first B&M standup (first standup was TOGO) and it didn’t hurt my legs or make me walk weird afterwards. Perhaps it’s just not intense enough as the other ones?

 

After Vortex, we passed by Invertigo. This one was another walk-on. I was quite surprised to see a boomerang coaster with such short lines especially with the 1 train only nature of them. Invertigo was pretty smooth for a Vekoma (about as smooth as Flashback at SFOT), I didn’t even hit my head once. Dad enjoyed this one too (it was funny when he got stapled and I didn’t). Before this he said he would never ride a “backwards and forwards rollercoaster”. I also didn’t have any problems with the G force on this ride (most boomerangs are 5.2 g anyways), probably because I wasn’t tired, had enough energy, didn’t take any medications that day (including those for motion sickness and allergies) and kept screaming the whole time?

 

While waiting for Grizzly to finish its early morning testing which was running like 20 minutes late anyways (was supposed to open at 11:00 am), we noticed Drop Tower: Scream Zone (good ride though, but bad name) had no lineup. I haven’t ridden an Intamin Drop Tower in almost 3 years and last time I did, it freaked me out so much. Dad has never ridden a drop tower before and he wanted me to go on too, so I did. I was so nervous and to take my mind off the height, I started singing “Spinning Wheel”. It was so funny when right before I got to the word “spinning” on “…let the spinning wheel spin” I was already being dropped. I actually decided to ride again (as there was still no lineup) but the second time I decided to face my fear and try to enjoy the view as opposed to singing “Spinning Wheel” and freaking out

 

After 2 runs on Drop Tower, Grizzly finally opens. I was surprised to see buzz bars still being used on that coaster (plus a stupid seat divider). But then again, I didn’t really know much about that coaster before I rode it. Another walk on, I can definitely tell why it’s the worst coaster of the year 2 years in a row. It’s so rough and painful! I’ll take the Playland Coaster over this one ANYDAY for sure. Or even Texas Giant for that matter. Dad even kept saying “so rough so rough!” throughout the whole thing. Definitely not a re-ride, I just rode it for the credit. It’s definitely the worst coaster in my book so far.

 

Then, it was time for Demon, the oldest coaster in the park that is still standing. This was definitely NOT a walk-on. It was a 1 hour wait that literally wasn’t worth it. But I needed the credit anyways so Dad decided to wait too. Blame it on the one train operation (ridiculous in my opinion) and the time it took to load and unload a train. A lot of people were complaining about the wait time. Why does it have to take so long?

 

We really wanted to ride Psycho Mouse but by the time we lined up, a ride op was standing there telling people not to ride as it was having problems. After leaving for a few minutes to get some eats and drinks (frozen lemonade and a bag of popcorn), we decide to head back to Psycho Mouse. Got like less than halfway through the queue and that same ride op came back and said that it was having problems AGAIN! Being tight on time, we sadly had to give this one a miss.

 

Whitewater Falls was a walk on, only the back of the boat though as people want the front. Since we rode in the back, we didn’t get too wet. Sorry didn’t take any pictures of that ride.

 

Along the way to Rugrats Runaway Reptar, we passed by Survivor: The Ride. I’ve never ridden a Disk-O of any kind before so I wanted to try, but the lineup was long. Unlike other coasters of the same name, this one is not a family suspended. Instead it is a cute little coaster for kids made by Intamin. Those bumps near the end actually gave slight pops of airtime. I thought kid’s coasters aren’t supposed to have airtime, but that’s some fine Intamin design alright. Also Dad didn’t ride as he thinks it looks “too boring” while I go ahead and do my credit whoring.

 

Time for me to ride my first custom B&M invert, Flight Deck. The lineup was about 20 minutes for that one. They ran 2 trains unlike Demon. This sped up loading times A LOT and we were lucky enough to get a back row ride with minimal wait. What did I think of this one? Too short of course. What did Dad think of it? It’s just like riding in a fighter plane but still in the end, too short. I liked Batman better than this one by far. Batman was way more forceful than this one fore sure.

 

We still had time for one more ride before we left. It was hot outside so we thought Loggers Run would be appropriate. It’s really refreshing on hot days, just like Whitewater Falls (if you sit in the front rows). Loggers Run had a very interesting way of loading. Didn’t take a picture of it but let’s see if my explanation is ok. Basically the logs go around this circular platform in the station that rotates (to move them) and the people get on. Sort of like a pulley I guess? Because we forgot to put down our park maps when we got on, we thought we might as well use them to pose for the on ride picture (they got all soaked anyways). Ride ops didn’t mind either as they thought we were using the maps for water shields. When we bought our picture, there were these guys who were giving the picture seller a hard time. They did “Flash Mountain” (it was a guy that did it though not a girl, they were in the log in front of us) and it was censored. They kept bugging the photo seller to let them at least see the picture but he pointed to the rule on the wall about how they’re not allowed to sell or show ones that contain obscene gestures. Eventually they just give up and leave.

 

Next up, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

Eating popcorn.

Bye bye Flight Deck... Love ya!

Delirium.

Flying Eagles. Sadly didn't ride.

Also dad approved.

Perhaps the most themed ride in the park.

Runaway Reptar. This one isn't inverted though.

Nerd shot (Demon's station brake).

The Chicken Dance song started playing in the queue line for Demon, I couldn't help it.

Artistic Demon shot for all you loop lovers.

Grizzly testing before it opened.

We see no evil on Drop Tower (or as it's called in Chinese, "Jump Apartment Machine").

Dad approves Invertigo.

Invertigo artistic shot.

Dad rides his first standup. I ride my second.

Swings. Didn't ride though.

Mandatory Cedar Fair trash can shot.

[Team Thriller]

I miss Top Gun (Since that what it was when I last rode it)

I hope I can get there next Spring!

 

--James

[CorkscrewFoley]

Nice TR and pics jess. I love the brake pic, I have one from a Disney trip awhile back, and everyone I knew shook their heads...glad I'm here. lol

[dragsterfan420]

Nice pics on both TR's. I really want to ride that Flight Deck. It's definitely alot better than the one at King's Island.

[CreditCrazy]

Nice TR. Grizzly seems to always open late and then even later than it's supposed to. I've actually never really felt the roughness on it, even rode it twice the last time I was at CGA. Too bad Demon only ran one train, while CGA isn't the best park I've still found operations to be decent there with most coasters running 2 trains.

[Angry_Gumball]

Wow, CGA looked a bit on the busier side seeing that there's actually a line for Demon, and some line for Flight Deck. Typically, when I visit (on a sunday) I can just walk right onto both of these rides, maybe wait a train or 2 on Demon.

 

That windstorm looks shrunken comparing to SCBBs, mainly because SCBB's windstorm is perched ontop of a building. Definitely a fun/intense mini coaster!

[KGA29]

Bummer that you missed out on some of the really cool flat rides that CGA has, but I'm glad you got most of the credits. I also find that line for Demon strange, but I guess the 1 train operation was probably the main cause of that. Can't wait to read more about my home parks!

[John Peck]

I like your "artist attempt" photos. Keep it up.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

Thanks for all your comments. Time for Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

 

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, what isint there to love about it. Rollercoasters, the great outdoors, good food, beautiful beaches, and of course lovely ladies in swimsuits. Kind of reminds me of Morey's Piers, minus the SLC of course. It's all pay-per-ride, as there is no admission charge. They have quite a nice lineup of rides, including the famous ferris wheel and merry-go-round, and an S&S Double Shot, most of which I didn't ride. Only I went on rides this time as Dad wanted a break from all the rollercoaster action.

 

After buying my ride tickets, time for the first credit, SDC Hurricane. I decided to skip the HUSS Pirate at the entrance because it's the exact same as the one at Playland. I had just ridden an SDC Hurricane (it was named Windstorm) on Tuesday in Seattle. This one is the exact same, except it seemed higher up because it was built on a raised area. You needed to walk up a hill to get to it. This one is also abit rougher than the one in Seattle I've noticed. I even got "sucker punched" going down that "dive of doom". Other than that, still a fun little coaster.

 

Before heading off to the next credit, Sea Serpent, it was time for some eats and drinks. They have good food there I have to admit. Better than Playland's food for sure. Along the way to Sea Serpant we passed by Loggers Revenge (Log flume) and Fireball (KMG Afterburn). I didn't ride Loggers Revenge but I did ride Fireball as I didn't get to ride Delirium yesterday. It's basically the same type of ride as Delirium, minus the unnecessary seat belts of course. But then again, this is not a Cedar Fair park. One thing I noticed about this park is that they don't seem to care about "Flash Mountain" and midde fingers and even let people buy those pictures. I wonder why...

 

Sea Serpent is a Miler family coaster themed to what is supposed to be a Sea Serpent. Apparently it looks more like a dragon and I don't get why don't they just call it Dragon. Perhaps they wanted to keep up with the sea theme? Around the area where Sea Serpent is, there were afew small rides as well as a small climbing wall. The only other ride I rode in that area though was a Zero Gravity/Lasso/Roundup ride which I forgot the name of. It's basically that Lasso ride in RCT3 where CENTRIPETAL force and inertia (not centrifugal) sticks you against the wall like clothes in a washing machine on spin cycle.

 

I can't believe I would ever do this, due to my claustrophobia and motion sickness but I did. I faced my fear and rode the Eyerly Rock-O-Plane and survived it. Certainly a real claustrophobia inducer even for non claustrophobics I bet. Since they don't really want single riders I assume, they paired me up with someone else who kept flipping the cage more than I wanted to. I kept telling her "I'm going to get sick, no more flipping!" and she didn't listen. Finally she decided to stop flipping and it just felt like riding a normal ferris wheel really. The fun part was that every time it flipped there's abit of hangtime, and during that hangtime I did handstands on the ceiling but still afterwards, I got so dizzy. I'm never going to ride another Rock-O-Plane, Loop-O-Plane etc for that matter. They should have just let me ride alone... Unless it's for weight distribution or for the same reason that they don't let single riders on a Zipper?

 

I kinda wanted to ride the S&S Double Shot but decided it wasn't really that thrilling after riding an Intamin Drop Tower twice yesterday. Instead I headed off for the last credit, the famous Giant Dipper. Happy 85th birthday Giant Dipper! Giant Dipper is a classic style Frederick Loeff woodie which means no headrests, no ridiculous seat belts, just a small seat divider which you barely notice and Playland Coaster style buzz bars on those Morgan trains. Don't know if you really could call them that as they don't "buzz" and I think it's got more than just one position. Everything is released manually I think. For those of you who don't know what the Playland Coaster's trains look like, look at my avatar picture. Another thing I like about this ride is how it starts off in a tunnel and its all dark for the first part. The lateral G's on this ride are stronger than Coaster for sure! Wasn't too rough of a ride either but Playland Coaster still wins for smoothest woodie and best out of your seat airtime

 

Overall it was a great trip to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, although I didn't really stay at the beach or go swimming as I absolutely hate being seen in a swimsuit. Wasn't really planned ahead like CGA and SFDK but we thought we'd go anyways and I can get 3 credits. Add that to my whole collection so far and that's 38 credits. Not much longer till my first milestone, 50!

 

Next park, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Scenery along the way back from Santa Cruz. Made me feel like I'm back in Vancouver again.

More Rock-O-Plane.

Giant Dipper artistic shot attempt. Notice the similar colours to Judge Roy Scream at SFOT.

I'm the one sitting on the outside.

In line for Rock-O-Plane aka claustrophobic's handstanding hell.

Tail/ass shot.

Sea Serpant. Or Dragon looking thing.

"Crazy Surf" or something ride. Basically a Falling Star or 1001 Nachts ride. Not sure the manufacturer of this one though.

Giant doughnuts. Yummy.

Haunted house ride.

Mmmmm

Hurricane time!

Logging my credit in line for Hurricane.

Rock 'n Roll.

KMG Fireball.

The famous merry-go-round.

it's called Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for this reason.

Palm trees.

[Angry_Gumball]

Ah...no love for WipeOut? Not recommended for those with epilepsy though...but it's a fun intense ride in the dark. I may be headed to SCBB this summer (maybe august?) before school starts up again. My Giant Dipper craving has started again.

 

Giant Dippers trains are Morgan trains, the same thing that the infamous Grizzly at CGA uses...the only difference is that Grizz has the redundancy seatbelt, and is open on both sides to pass through. But yea, those lap bars are very forgiving especially if you ride with a larger rider...monster airtime!

[John Peck]

Lets see if I can help you a bit...

 

The Fireball is a KMG "Afterburner"

 

That Particular Rock N Roll is built by Bezzatron

 

The Zipper requires 2 riders because there is no seat divider and people have slided around too much (it's a Chance requirement)

 

Not sure why they were pairing up people on the Rock-O, it must have been a park policy because I have never been paired up on many. The Rock-O is quite an enjoyable ride, even if you decide not to flip your tub. You should give it a chance again someday.

 

The Zero Gravity and Cliffhanger is built by Dartron (who used to be Hubritz.. the builders of Round-Ups, Paratroopers and Hurricanes)

[atem122]

Awww too bad you didnt ride the train ride that takes you underground to hell frozen over (well close enough).

 

Sounds like you had a great time, and you did a great job reporting it, I'm really anxious to see your SFDK report, I absolutely love that place

 

Edit: Post 666

[KGA29]

Even though Double Shot is much smaller than Drop Tower, it packs quite a punch! I'm also sad you missed the classic carousel because it's one of the only ones where you can grab the ring and try and toss it into the clown's mouth. Oh well.

[WFChris]

If there was any place in the United States that would allow you to buy pictures of you flipping off / flashing the camera, SCBB is definitely the location I would assume it was going on. The college/hippie/laid back crowd of that area is certainly different from most areas, and to me has always maintained a classic boardwalk feel.

 

Well alright, I'm not even sure what *real* classic feels like, so I guess SCBB is what I would imagine it feeling like. Sure, its a family place, but if you want to pay 9 bucks for that picture, go for it! They will take the 9 bucks!

 

Chris.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

Lets see if I can help you a bit...

 

The Fireball is a KMG "Afterburner"

 

That Particular Rock N Roll is built by Bezzatron

 

The Zipper requires 2 riders because there is no seat divider and people have slided around too much (it's a Chance requirement)

 

Not sure why they were pairing up people on the Rock-O, it must have been a park policy because I have never been paired up on many. The Rock-O is quite an enjoyable ride, even if you decide not to flip your tub. You should give it a chance again someday.

 

The Zero Gravity and Cliffhanger is built by Dartron (who used to be Hubritz.. the builders of Round-Ups, Paratroopers and Hurricanes)

 

Thanks for that, I corrected it.

 

I don't think I will ever touch a Rock-O again untill my claustrophobia is completely gone. Perhaps someday. The Rock-O has no seat divider either perhaps thats why I was paired? Or capacity?

 

As for the crowd in the area, I even noticed that there were afew hippie ride ops. Complete with the long hair. They wern't doing anything they wern't supposed to and I agree it does add to the whole diversity of the place. One of them at Fireball even said "peace out" to people as they were exiting the ride. You don't really see that anywhere else! Even in Vancouver, which is a pretty liberal city, they still censor pictures as necessary (or not).

[John Peck]

^ I do think it was a park policy/capacity issue for pairing up on the Rock O Plane. There is no bulletin from Eyerly that states you should ride in pairs.

 

Chance however require you be paired on the Trabant/Casino/Wipeout as well as the Zipper.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Jess, the ride that you mentioned that looked like a smaller 1001 Nachts is called a Miami, or at least in the UK and Europe. I'm kicking myself in the a$$ for missing it out here in Windsor a few years back, simply because my friend Joe didn't want to wait in line.

 

It's supposed to have some great lats, and I believe the manufacturer is KMG.