chadster Posted October 26, 2010 Posted October 26, 2010 Greeting's Ride Warriors! Having just completed a bucket list trip to CGA, SFMM, SFDK, and Knott's Berry Farms, I bring to you the start of my trip report. As I sit in the very Ghetto John Wayne Airport, I am taking advantage of their ultra fast internet service in my second attempt at starting this report. I started out on Friday, 22 Oct 2010 by flying in early to SNA and then making the 400 mile journey to California's Great America. Why did I choose to do this, well, I like to drive for one, and two, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see farms, mountains, farms, farms, mountains, farms, and dust bowl signs brought to you the farmers, which reminds me, remember to Vote Nov 2, don't care who you vote for, just VOTE!! So, here we go, arrive at CGA around 7pm and thought my first stop would be the entry gates, and I was mistaken. After being told they were unable to verify platinum passes from other parks, I was sent to wait 30 minutes in line at guest services. After getting my "comp" ticket, I was granted entry to the park, only after they had to override my comp pass. Come on Cedar Fair, you can do better, I don't have to go through this at any other CF park. Six Flags can do it, why can't you? I hear that other people have had similar trouble at CGA and even other parks, but I have not, so, not really sure what to make of that, other than they need to really get a few things ironed out. Ok, enough of my small rant, and on to my CGA visit. oooooo spoooookyyyyyyyyy. ok, i blurred it on purpose for the effect. evil eyes the horses are spooky jack is spooky carnevil is spooky, but the line wasn't. it was pretty short early on, not a bad little attraction. and the prices for food and beverage are spooky flight deck is spooky, actually, the load time was spooky, the lines were managible, but the loading was creaping along slowly spooky queue for flight deck. more on flight deck later. the flipper is suuuuuuper spooky a decent ride, also spooky on to my second credit of the night, psycho mouse. this mouse was not all that psycho on to the woodie, not a bad ride, but not a good ride, fairly smooth. the brakes on grizzly were not spooky. Invertigo was up and running, and a little bouncy on the ears, took two trips on it, that was about enough excitment for me. Wait a minute, what is this? A daytime picture? Yep. So here's the dealio. Vortex died about 8ish and never re-opened, having traveled this far, I had to come back and get the credit, plus a kiddie credit due to it being closed for haunt. I liked Demon in the dark, well themed, and a quality smooth arrow ride that I hope they keep around for a while. So, I make it back to the park and have to do the whole guest services thing again. I went straight to this ride as the park was loading up with high school kids, who thankfully went straight to the outdoor theatre for some sort of pep rally, so, I had the park to myself. another shot of vortex. I'm pretty confident that this is the worst B&M ever. I made the mistake of riding it in the back. My ears still hurt, rough as hell the swing set was in good working order the graveyard, where vortex should be so after getting crap beat out of me, I went over to flight deck. New day, new crew, still slow loading. I give this ride a 7 (which btw, when I'm finished with this four park report, I will post my comparrison sheet once again) It's a good ride, but like most things in life, I've rode better, and I've rode worse. but still, for a 17 year old ride, it satisified my needs. next up yep, I'm sad and pathetic. Got denied the taxi credit, told I was too tall, aka pervert helix of no return words to live by hmmm, it's 55 degrees outside. the log ride was themed really well, especially at night, with spiders, fiber optics, scarey noises. The line was long, but worth it, even had an entrance/exit scare zone. see, spooky we're sorry, we can't r#$% you today on $4 chips and drinks, but if you prefer, you can get r$#@!% up the path a ways sweet ride noted. finally, for some ariel photos. I like survivor, nice ride. The intamin pole in the background, I stayed away from, not sure about it's cable. log ride down! log ride down! log ride down! my head still hurts. noted! So as I leave the park, I find this dude, apparently drank too much last night. Overall this park gets a 7, decent selection of rides, but really needs a new signature ride. It has an ok selection of flats and plenty for the kidos, which makes it great for families. So, next up, I drive 60 miles north to SFDK, get your rains coats on! (no, not *that* rain coat, get your mind out of the gutter, pervert)
chadster Posted October 26, 2010 Author Posted October 26, 2010 So here I arrive at SFDK (10.23.10, 3pm), it started raining about 5 miles out, but I didn't care. This park is no Sea World Orlando, but has everything you need to satisfy your cravings. Surprisingly they had flat rides. Most rides were operating, missed two credits, one for being sad and pathetic, or too tall, and the other, cobra, wasn't allowed to operate in the rain. So off we go. rain rain go away, come again another day, or not, cuz the crowds went away just inside the gate, well maintained. might as well, I'm already wet. first up, V2, nice ride, still missing a row, but really enjoyed it. time for roar this has one of the best pre-lift journey that I've been on in a while back to v2 and the rain, see the rain? a little tony hawk action this guy didn't care that it was raining. neither did they, they were just begging for food dolphins don't care either. and now we have thomas town. somethings wrong with this picture, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. i got denied my credit in here crepes! denied! shucks. look everyone, a flat ride at six flags!!! i really wanted to ride another frisbee, but no go due to rain show reservations, LMAO! kong, donged me, one and done. stupid vekoma this dude was sticking knifes in peoples necks this was one pissed of gorilla. another flat!!! so it was getting a little wet, haunt was starting, but the rain started coming down harder, so I checked out. Medusa, quality, but its sister in SFGAdv is much better with all the theming. Liked roar, another quality GCI, but with only one train, V2 also quality. Nice park overall, wish it wasn't raining so I could've road more of their flats, but oh well, it'll be there next year I'm sure. So next up, the Mountain. That will probably come tomorrow, or tonight if I feel like it. After leaving Knotts yesterday I flew into Vegas for 10 days, so I might not be able to type or comprehend for a while.
Calicoasters Posted October 26, 2010 Posted October 26, 2010 Overall this park gets a 7, decent selection of rides, but really needs a new signature ride. It has an ok selection of flats and plenty for the kidos, which makes it great for families. Out of the 4 parks you visited in California I would say CGA is by far the champ in the flat ride department, Definitely kicked SFMM's ass! P.S. Doesn't get any better than Survivor!
Noobitizer Posted October 26, 2010 Posted October 26, 2010 Chad, Looks like you had a goodtime in california. To bad the rain came down on your visit to The Kingdom. Taz Devil is running a great program right now with Fright Fest in full swing . Wish we had the chance to meet, maybe on your next visit. Safe Travels Charles
chadster Posted October 26, 2010 Author Posted October 26, 2010 Overall this park gets a 7, decent selection of rides, but really needs a new signature ride. It has an ok selection of flats and plenty for the kidos, which makes it great for families. Out of the 4 parks you visited in California I would say CGA is by far the champ in the flat ride department, Definitely kicked SFMM's A$$! P.S. Doesn't get any better than Survivor! I can't argue with that at all!
chadster Posted October 26, 2010 Author Posted October 26, 2010 Ok, so off to the Mountain! I have to say I really liked this park, the staff was friendly and the crowds were light. I even scored #200!! Here we are preparing for battle. I've really struggled with the quote on this one, so I will let you pick. The dude in the lower corner 1. "Hey big boy, I have a broom stick you can ride" or 2. "I want to drink your blood" and they're off! run baby, run! Thanks to some fantastic advice from fellow C-TPR member, PAL, I had an escape route pre-planned for me. A last minute obligation prevented us from meeting on this day, but I'm sure we will meet up in the spring! running around the corner I spotted this engineering marvel, wonder where I've seen that before, hmmm...oh well, and we're running, well, I'm not, but others are Dude in the red looks like he's gotta go, the girl on the left looks like she's losing her pants. bye bye crowd! B&M goodness, first ride on second train. This was a good ride, unfortunatley, other people thought so too and started to fill up the queue, so no re-ride. Manta's my #1 on a flyer, this will now be my #2 Deja Vu was wanting to give me a ride, but park management said it couldn't Ninja. I never got to ride Big Bad Wolf, but of all of these I've ridden, this is the better one. yea!! no one's here yet! Time for #200. I love woodies, especially those with mellenium flyers on board. So this was a pefect fit. I almost came walking up the pre-show. I'm not usually a fan of pre-shows, but for a park that gets as busy as this one does, this is a well thought out system of keeping just enough riders in each stage so that once you get to the platform you don't have to wait more than 60 seconds to board. It's a little entertaining the first time or two, after that it's like, hurry up, I wanna ride! let me on!!!!! Thank you Terminator, for being #200, excellent ride indeed. Ended up getting a couple laps in before the masses decided to boot me off. So, I ventured down the path on search of the elusive flat ride. tower shot left or right, left or right, left or right. while I'm trying to decide, tower shot. Ok, coaster time, legend says it's the first coaster in the park so off we go on a typical mine train ride, with a pinch of attitude. Next on the todo list. I am getty inside, ANOTHER B&M, yes!! this is now my #1 stand-up coaster, re-rideable, great layout, perfect balance. through the tree shot i think we're missing a tower shot. so, I asked the moose out front if I could ride superman, he said sure. someone didn't tell the moose there was an obstruction on the track. Comming back next year for sure. hey look, it's a flat ride!!!! Since I've been on Titan, I kinda had an idea of what to expect here. Sorry guys, I like titan's upwards helix to the brake run. Backwards Colossus wasn't in operation until later in the day. But frontwards was awesome, so I had a real goot idea getting it from the back was going to be better. SCREAM!!! ANOTHER quality B&M, I'm in heaven. on the floorless front Kraken = #1, Bizzaro #2, Scream #3 Before I made my way to revolution, I stopped by log jammer. I really liked the layout and speed, and, until I went to Knotts, this was my #1 log flume ride, it's now slipped to #2 huh? Another quality ride, I really enjoyed it for its age. brake, check. backwards, check. So, i left for a few hours to check into the hotel and whatnot, Note: Don't eat at Johnny Rockets @ Valencia Town Center, something will go off like a rocket if you do So to sum up, it got dark, and began to drizzle, people went home, good for me. Flashpass was not needed today unless you wanted it for X2, and close to $60 for one ride isn't worth it. Viper was running smooth, Ninja was good as was revolution, and now to X2. I sat in the inside front row, right. Holly crap, I swear that seat was freshly armor all'd. that first drops was INSANE, I was sliding all around my seat, but had a blast. Line at 8pm was only about 20 minutes so hit it up twice, before a final run on Tatsu (love the loop), and then a personal ERT session on my #200, Terminator. For 45 minutes, I didn't get off. Prowler still #1 for it's intensity, Terminator a VERY close second. Great day, short on flats as ususal, but would defintely reccomend to anyone who has not been. Please note, when I do my re-cap sheet, I'll include a few more details of what I thought. So, next up, Knott's Berry Farm.
chadster Posted October 26, 2010 Author Posted October 26, 2010 (edited) Off to Knotts. I had the entire park to myself!!! It's been over twentyfive years since I've been hear, heck, I don't even remember it, but, mom pointed out the picture evidence the other day, so I will take her word for it! noted. darn it. camp spooky I'll start the credit run here. this is one of those rides that if the balance, or out of balance, isn't right, it can be dull, if it's spot on, OMFG car shot. for some reason I noticed something about the prices, more on that in a bit. excellent theming at this park she knows how to handle a stick such a classic park. love it. down shots only today, walk on rides, ride as many times as you want. love these! one train, check. new cable, check. let's do it. found the entry at least i don't have to worry about two trains coliding. so, i ended last night with 45 minutes ERT on Terminator, today, I start with 45 minutes ERT on Xcelerator, never got off, what was that you said, did your jaw drop, re-rides at a CF park???? Yes sir indeed!! Another guy rode it for over three hours. bomerthang credit, not the smoothest, not the roughest. ok, to compare prices, the drinks are not consistant. Coffee for one is more expensive here, than up front. A few other things are little out a kilter as well. I just found it odd, that's all. oh well, next year. like i said earlier, the theming is incredible it's also a real life ghost town, now on to other pointless things. such as this, and just to be safe, I will do a pre-ride inspection. dent in train, check. spring loaded brake, check brakes close after launch, check. i took a trip in the front and back for the experience, then that's was enough for me. do it now, and be cool the calico mine ride was interesting to say the least. and on to more important things, like, ERT on silver bullet X3. Rode three different 45 minute sessions, never got off. helix of death traditional loop shot and a B&M ball the ride crew on silver bullet was nothing short of amazing. Top notch, friendly folks, laid back attitude, and on their game. When the restraints failed to release after braking, they immeditaley sprung into action getting everyone out manually, not even 5 seconds went by before they had the tool out releasing the harnesses. Kudo's to them for being the best crew in the park! Catawampus says, Moo. remember the cloud poofer 2000 from WoF? Having ridden it many times and then this, I can say with 98% confidence it's the same ride program, it's just something about being in that building with the sound effects that makes the 2000 tops. Monte was down in the morning, mechanics working on it's motor. I elected to let it run a while once it came on line, just to be safe. But, after a mechanic assure me there was no intamin cable on board, I took a few spins. Awesome ride. they even had a do it your self ride for kids! hmmmm... not good. no re-rides allowed here, says it would mess up their counts, but the others ones were doing it!!! hmmmm, again, good thing I rode Jaguar before I saw this. ghost town but i thought you couldn't have knifes in the park... anyway, my battery is dying, so i will finsih up later tonight or in the morning, complete with my wrap up spreadsheet. speaking of ghost town, ride ghost rider in the rear personally, I like it in the front Edited October 27, 2010 by chadster
Sir Clinksalot Posted October 27, 2010 Posted October 27, 2010 Great stuff. I agree that CGA has the best selection of flat rides in CA, but that's about it. The only coasters that are worth riding more than once are Flight Deck and Invertigo. Glad you enjoyed Knott's Log Ride. It's still my favorite one.
chadster Posted October 27, 2010 Author Posted October 27, 2010 ^ agreed. On to the last part of Knott's and my final review. should i be offended, probably not. log ride braking system, aka, nerd shot emergency braking with an acceptable amount of wettness. be sure to obey your penal code there is just somethin about a horse outside a chop house that seems odd. Pony Down! i didn't brave the rapids, didn't have a change of clothes and was unsure on the wetness level got the last ride of regular operating hours, then headed to the airport say goodbye jack
chadster Posted October 27, 2010 Author Posted October 27, 2010 Well, as promised here is my trip overview perspective. John Wayne Airport is ghetto, but in a good way. It’s easy to get into, easy to get thru security (unless you have a bag of camera equipment, lenses, and accessories like I do, then, they get confused and want to hand search and swab), and you don’t have to worry about LAX evacuations and delays, unless you were on my flight which was delayed 30 min, but all others were on time from what I could tell. That will be my airport of choice for sure. LA traffic wasn’t near as bad as I had envisioned, albeit I was driving off peak at 11am and 6pm, but fuel was a sticker shock to me, almost a buck higher than Teepee land. Overall, California treated me well except for maybe the rain. 90% of the folks I encountered were friendly, which I found to be a good thing. It also helped that the girl at the hotel in Valencia was cute. On to the parks. California’s Great America. I should say I’m not really a haunt person, but will partake if it’s up for grabs. The scare zones were so so with one of the scaracharcters beating his 55 gallon drum every 5 seconds, that really takes away from the surprise. Corn Stalkers was decent as the zombies had their parts down as was carnevil. Really enjoyed the log ride all decorated up, and the employees seemed to be enjoying themselves, without that, you don’t really have a good event. So for haunt, I give it a 7/10 Rides, I will go ahead and give them the edge for the park with the better selection of flats as mentioned earlier. I was on the fence on this one and SFDK has some good flats as well, but after thought, SFDK doesn’t have a drop tower or survivor, so CGA wins that one with their selection, though it good be better. (all of them could really use some additional flats) Flight Deck is clearly their signature coaster and again for 17 years old, it’s still a good ride, vortex needs to be melted down, psycho mouse, well moving on, invertigo been there done that at KI, Grizzly, while not jerky in any seat I rode in, kinda gave me the wondering why feeling, and then we come to their Arrow, Demon. Quality old school arrow, good themeing, smooth ride with a few unexpected dips and turns, hope they hang on to it for a while. If I were in town, I would go back, but doubtful I would make a special trip. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Despite the rain, I had a good time. The employees were fun and interactive and trying to keep everyone’s entertained. Left before haunt, so can’t comment there. Roar, another quality GCI product with the best pre-lift track I’ve been on in a while, although it was a one train wonder, the crew kept it going solid minimizing wait times. Speaking of the one train, where is the 2nd train? The back seat had plywood on the floor, not sure what’s up with that. Didn’t much pay attention to the other rows, just that one stood out. V2, solid ride, they need more of those around. Kong can go away and Medusa, what can I say, if it had the theme of it’s sister, I would give it a 9. They actually had some flats, the gorilla himalya was seriously pissed off. The animals were a trip and gave added value to the park, just wished the dolphins and sea lions had a better place to play. Enjoyed my wet day, would I go back, probably so. Six Flags Magic Mountain. Avoided running with the bulls and hit up Tatsu, my now #2 flying coaster. The G’s you feel in the loop are incredible and I didn’t find the ride to be boring at all. Terminator Salvation, my #200, really really like the ride, it is like .10 close to taking over my #1 from Prowler, but since that will never happen, it will be #2 to coincide with my #1. Colossus, what can I say, excellent classic racing woodie, tho it wasn’t racing today, forwards and backwards, both a great ride. Goliath, sorry doesn’t beat titan, Riddle my new #1, great layout, keeps things interesting, even better at night. Batman, well, I still like them even if they are mostly clones. Scream, it’s a good floorless ride, found it funny you could still see the parking lot stripes on the ground. Revolution is a keeper as is Viper, X2, wild ride to say the least, felt like I was being thrown around like a rag doll, loved it. Their log rides were solid and they had a Himalaya, so they scored bonus points. I would definitely return and recommend . Knott’s Berry Farm. Great small park, smaller than WoF foot print wise, but a good selection of rides. ERT on Xcelerator and Silver Bullet were the highlights of my day. The crew on Xcelerator had their mojo working, but gave Silver Bullet the edge on best crew of the park, interactive, fun, and personable. Ghost rider, great in the front, not so great in the rear. The layout is nice, and for certain not boring, and I don’t think it’s as bad as Mean Streak. Pointless Express went down while I was there, so thankful I got my ride in. Monte was a solid shuttle, really like the force of take off, and no fear of cable snapping. Sidewinder, blah, maybe because I didn’t spin enough. Calico Mine was the bomb, and their log ride is now my #1, the sudden drop in darkness takes the cake. Just wish they didn’t charge for their screamin swing, that’s not cool especially when Cedar Point doesn’t charge more for theirs. Wipeout, same ride program as Cloud Poofer 2000, but the cloud takes the prize due to its themeing. I would also definitely return to and recommend this park. Had my first Pinks Dog at the park, like the chili and the snap of the wiener. Overall, great trip. Should be present for any WCB next spring. So here is my chart, please note I didn't change the criteria from my east coast trip ranking variety or rides and not quality of rides. Thanks for looking
PAL Posted October 27, 2010 Posted October 27, 2010 Wow, enjoyed the report, almost felt like I was there... not quite, but see you at WCB. I'm glad your trip to the Mt worked out. It's fun and interesting to see how others feel about the local parks. For me the mix of sentimentality battles with the contempt of familiarity, resulting in views anything but objective. You were kind to Revolution and Scream, Grizzly and Demon. Dichotomy! My head hurts. Thanks, and what the hell were you thinking? CGA has outstanding flats. If we could close that sucker and disperse them to more 'deserving' parks in the state, wouldn't that be great. Just kidding, CGA solitary fanboy. I remember that park when it was cherry. So much potential wasted, it's sad. I rather enjoy Medusa west; for one, it's a bigger ride than it's eastern cousin. Terminator is great, but you missed the best wood in the state. That resides in Santa Cruz of course. Get your mind out of the gutter! What's your wood top 10? Are you missing some of the most popular among coaster dorks? Curious. If not WCB, see you at SFOT once Texas Giant starts its second lease on life.
Sir Clinksalot Posted October 27, 2010 Posted October 27, 2010 Great wrap up and final report. I pretty much agree on your best coaster at each park, except Knott's. Gotta give the edge to Xcelerator, I love that freakin' ride. Glad you had a great trip.
chadster Posted October 27, 2010 Author Posted October 27, 2010 ^^ My head is almost alway in the gutter! I'm for sure missing some key wooden coasters, just didn't have the time to hit up Santa Cruz, but it'll be there during WCB, that is, unless Prince Desmond pays it a visit Lets see on the top wooden coaster board, 1-Prowler 2-Terminator 3-El Toro 4-Texas Giant 5-Lightning Racer 6-Colossus 7-Roar(SFDK) 8-Boss 9-Beast 10-Thunderbolt ^ Thanks! It was a tough choice between the two, but in the end, I'm a B&M fanboy of sorts
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