xymos Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Hi everyone! So this weekend was Bay Area Weekend! We hit up Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Saturday and California's Great America on Sunday. Even though I live in CA and am near the bay area at least a few times a year, it was my first time to both of these parks. So I figure I will give a quick review of each, and then on to the pictures! SFDK, plainly said, is AMAZING. Maybe it's because I had low expectations for a Six Flags park, or maybe it's because we had the craziest ERT anyone could ask for, but I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every aspect of the park. It totally feels like it is not a Six Flags park; maybe a crazier Sea World with more coasters? Still, both my brother Bennett and I enjoyed both the park and the day more than we would have thought. In my personal opinion, CGA was not nearly as good. In fact, the park almost irritated me for a few reasons: first and foremost, their ridiculous "no glasses" policy. Both my brother and I where glasses, and when they ask you to take them off for every ride--including flat rides--it gets incredibly annoying. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why they would have the rule in place--safety issue of the rides, no responsibility for lost items--but what is CGA not doing that Six Flags is? SF lets me take my glasses on EVERYTHING. I personally know that my glasses are welded onto my face, so I've taken them on X2, Scream, Goliath, Superman, Medusa, El Toro, and hell, even Kingda Ka! SF let me take my glasses on Kingda Ka! Why is CGA any different? On the whole, this rule is a dealbreaker for me. I would actually avoid this park because of this rule, not because I don't respect the park, but because there is no logic when they are the only ones who enforce this. Less important to me, I thought that the whole park was not worth the $55 one-day pricetag. Now 55 isn't a lot compared to Disneyland ($105 for a park hopper), but compared to SFDK, an amazing park mere tens of miles away ($37 if bought online withough ClubTPR)? I don't think so. That being said, what TPR did to these parks made up for it. Awesome ERT on plenty of good rides, and an added surprise on Medusa: The Water Challenge! Pics! Even from the parking lot you can tell this is going to be a different kind of SF park. Time for ERT on Roar, Big Spi--I mean, Pandemonium, and V2! Dolphin Fountain Penguins Epic penguin stance, perfect for kicking a$$. Speaking of kicking a$$, V2 ERT! Oh, and Roar. And now, animal pictures! This is seriously not a Six Flags park... I see you hidin', dolphin. Words cannot describe... It has always been my dream to hug a walrus. Today, that dream will not be achieved. Underwater shot! Maybe the best trash can I've ever seen. This is Bennett. He is excited to be riding... KONG! Probably the most appropriate tagline. In all fairness, this is not the WORST SLC I've been on, but that still doesn't make it a good ride. Best ride in the park: Medusa! Medusa is awesome. Like a bigger, smoother Scream. Including a bigger parking lot. YES Hey! Stop attacking that cat! Oh. It's a porcupine. Stop attacking that porcupine! Ha! This looks familiar... Man, giraffes are smaaaal these days... I really just want to fit a slingshot on top of those... Probably the best pic of the day. And now, I give you "Sea Creatures in Air" and "Land Creatures in Sea." Enjoy. Alright, back to coasters. Boomerang. Ooh! A Stride Gum car! Classy... LOVE the stroller parking It's night, which means....Nighttime ERT!! On Medusa!! Yeah. You know what these are for... 5 riders per train? Now that's what I'm talking about! At one point, the fireworks from the fair across the way started going off as we were climbing the lift. Seriously, one of the coolest coaster experiences ever. Honestly, everything about this park is awesome. And talk about that staff! Letting us do the water challenge on Medusa because they didn't open Big Spin? That's AWESOME! So, thank you SFDK and TPR! I'll leave you with this pic, until I get the CGA pics up. Should be soon I promise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
805Andrew Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I may visit SFDK next year as I went to CGA this year (a few days before the event since the timing of it didn't work out for me). It looks like SFDK has improved since it was called Marine World plus they have the new Sky Screamer, plus the Shouka show which I haven't seen or the Pandemonium credit which I haven't ridden. I usually hate advertising wrapping around coaster cars (e.g. Got 2 Be hair gel on Viper at SFMM) but the Stride one on Boomerang actually looks good! If they limited the coaster advertising wrapping to cookie-cutter non-themed rides like Boomerang I would be fine with that. One thing I noticed about your TR is you complained about not being allowed to wear glasses on rides at CGA but didn't complain about having to pay for 1ockers to put your stuff in before riding coasters at SFDK, did they not enforce that policy while you were there? CGA had cubbies, bins and the ground by the exits of the loading stations which I thought worked fine and saves the hassle of having to go put your stuff in a 1ocker for every major coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xymos Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 (edited) Part 2: California's Great America Nobody's here... Signature shot! Time for some Top Gu--Flight Deck ERT! That's right. I think this speaks for itself. TPR members coming back from what might be their 10th time before the park opened Flight Deck! Then we hit up some Survivo--Tiki Twirl. I think this ride bugged me the most with the "no glasses" rule. Just seems insane that this along with an Arrow mouse doesn't allow glasses. Credit whoring around on Woodstock Express The Demon mwhahaha This was my first Intamin Drop Tower and I do have to say, there are freaking sick! TPR members at lunch getting their goody bags! They gave us all Firefall shirts!! (along with an Invertigo wheel ) Which only means one thing: TPR Firefall takeover!! FIRE! Time for the backstage tour! Backstage Vortex photos! So sad... Inside the shop! Blueprints and such Ooooohh Psycho Mouse car upskirt!! Backstage photos of Flight Deck! Sadly, Bennett's 100th was Grizzly... Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the nighttime ERT, but the rest of the day was quite fun! Thank you CGA and TPR for a great event! Edited August 8, 2011 by xymos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xymos Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 One thing I noticed about your TR is you complained about not being allowed to wear glasses on rides at CGA but didn't complain about having to pay for 1ockers to put your stuff in before riding coasters at SFDK, did they not enforce that policy while you were there? CGA had cubbies, bins and the ground by the exits of the loading stations which I thought worked fine and saves the hassle of having to go put your stuff in a 1ocker for every major coaster. Well actually, we didn't have any bags or any loose items so we didn't have to use the lockers. But yeah it is annoying and good on CGA for having cubbies for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flagg O'Dim Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Nice report! About CGA's no glasses policy, if you have straps attached to your glasses, you can ride just about everything. I have them on my sunglasses, and the ride operators always tell me that I'm OK to ride with the straps. Although some rides I prefer to just put them in my pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xymos Posted August 9, 2011 Author Share Posted August 9, 2011 I forgot to post this panorama I took from the Sky Tower. California's Great America Panorama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Interesting on the No Glasses thing. On Psycho Mouse they just told me I should, not that I had to remove my glasses. I discussed it with the ride op and it seemed like it was more for responsibility then safety. If my glasses should fall off during the ride and land inside the fence, they were not going to shut down the ride to get them. On some rides I can see it would be for safety. Not a big deal for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAWKIN_coaster38 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Yeah the Six Flags 1ocker policy really is obnoxious. SFDK wasn't always like that, but when they got them it was a pain. However, I can tolerate it because the 1ockers near the coasters are only $1 for about 2 hours and you can rest assured that your stuff is safe. We ended up going over our time because we put our stuff near Pandemonium and then ended up going over and riding Medusa and was in line for Kong when we realized our time was out. Thankfully, our 1ocker was still closed when we went over and we were able to use the receipt to open it and get our stuff. It's great to hear a TR from someone who has never been to either park. I grew up going to SFDK (always Marine World to me) every year and it will probably always be my home park. It deeply irritated me when I went to CGA a few years back because I noticed all of the negatives compared to SFDK and the two parks are pretty close to each other and I didn't think CGA could even compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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