Voxelmatic Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 (edited) Table of Contents: 3/24/13: Six Flags America (See below) 7/6/13: Universal Studios Hollywood SIX FLAGS AMERICA OPENING WEEKEND Hey TPR folks! This is my first trip report. I hope you guys enjoy it! So, on my first weekend of Spring Break, I decided to head down to Six Flags America. It was empty, which was disappointing and good at the same time! I went first thing to get my pass processed for the year, expecting a huge line. But, lo and behold, there was practically nobody! So, passes processed and all, I went into the park. It was very, very, very cold. Even Batman had an extra layer on! Using my Gold pass, I went back to Gotham immediately to see if anything was open. Unfortunately, nothing was! The ride operator on Riddle Me This said all the coasters would be up by around 1:00. I hoped they were right, because only flats were open at the time. Then, in the freezing weather, I turned around and saw people riding Blizzard River. Why was it even open? Oh well, that's Six Flags for you. Luckily, ROAR opened at around 12. Everyone in the park (which was about 100 people) ran to it, and of course, only one train was running. I rode front row, and I was expecting a terribly brutal ride. However, I got the opposite. It was running as smooth as Wild One usually did, and I even got some good air! Then, I saw Mind Eraser testing, so, reluctantly went over to ride that. I don't know what I was expecting, really. Maybe I thought it would be good for once? But...it sucked. It really sucked. I would rather re-ride Ninja then step on that again. Oh, well, at least it looks good. Rides began opening up instantly after that. Wild One and Apocalypse were shortly followed by Joker and Batwing. Of course, there was still no sign of life from Superman. Since I still needed the credit, I went over to Apocalypse first. And all I can say about the theming was WOW. Six Flags did an excellent job on it, and even better, they kept Skull Mountain! I think there was supposed to be a Tesla coil in the dumpster, but it wasn't working. There was a little bit of a line, as everyone went there also. Because I had heard crappy reviews of it, I stuck to the front. It had a bit of a rattle going out of the station, which worried me. Now, I love standups, as Shockwave at Kings Dominion was fun for me. The lift had awesome music playing, which was a plus. Then, the first drop came, and I was honestly surprised. It wasn't giving me any problems with my head, although it had a little rattle. Then, the second half came. All I could say the entire time was ouch. It was almost as bad as Mind Eraser here. At least the fire effect was working. Although, for it's age, I thought it was really good, with bonus points for being B&Ms first coaster. I then went over to Joker, only to find out it had shut down again. BOO! Batwing was running now, at least, so I went over to take a spin on that. It wasn't anything special, but I enjoy it more than the Superman clones. Then, I saw Joker back up. I prefer the outdoor versions to the indoor when it comes to Premier launchers, and this was no exception. Unlike Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion, this version doesn't have the near complete stop midway through the ride. That makes Joker vastly superior in my book. I rode that twice, and then went over to Wild One. It was running better than usual, almost ejector on every hill! I had time, and the operators were actually doing a good job, so I managed to get almost twenty rides in an hour and a half. It was awesome . But, after that, the ride got stuck on the brake run! So that de-comissioned it for the rest of the day. Then, the best part of the day happened. Superman finally opened! This was the first time it would be open for the entire season, which was really awesome. However, it had a decent line, so I only got one ride on it. It was running really well! There was ejector on nearly every hill, so it was a really good ride. However, the blue train wasn't even on the transfer track. Weird. That was the end of my day at Six Flags America. The park has really improved this year, with operations speeding up, employees going out of their way to make your day better, and just a great atmosphere compared to what it was before. The park really has improved, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the season goes! Welcome to Six Flags America! The Main Street of SFA. You have to admit, it does look pretty good! I don't know what gave the builders of the park the genius idea to put the Liberty Bell in front of the restrooms. I really don't. "Hey, I'm getting hungry, wanna go grab a Twix bar?" Flying Carousel is the park's chair swing, surprisingly with a name that doesn't involve chairs or swinging. ROAR was actually running really well today once it opened. Floater on every hill. Gotham City: Conveniently located under your nearest big wooden coaster. You see? Its a big wooden coaster! No Batmobile out yet, boo! Oh well, it looks like Penguin won't be opening today! Wait...what? SFA can manage to open a water ride in near-freezing weather almost immediately, but it takes them almost three hours to get a SLC up and running? This park confuses me. Speaking of SLCs, let's head over to Coyote Creek. Michael Jackson: The Store It's not open yet? Not sure if I should be happy or upset... Oh, it's open now! That took long enough... I can still hear the screams from that day... Although, as bad as SLCs are, you have to admit they're photogenic rides. See? One of the things in this picture is suspended garbage. The other is a trash can. Moving back to Gotham, we have Iron Wol-ermm...Apocalypse. I loved the theming that Six Flags put on it, it made it seem brand new! RAWR! I'M AN ANGRY SKULL MOUNTAIN, GIMME SOME PLANES! This is the view from Apocalypse's station. At least this coaster has the B&M roar to cover the screams of pain. Skull Island is actually a time machine that takes you back to 2012. Back into Gotham, we have Joker's Jinx. It's the love child of Hulk and Rock N' Roller Coaster. And this is the entrance. Let's head to Batwing now, shall we? Much better than the other Vekoma crapfest over in Coyote Creek. Here we go... LOOP DE LOOP! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Closed. Superman: Slide of Steel. If we need to, we can always ride this Ferris Wheel. What is this...? It's... IT'S ALIVE! And full of airtime too! But guess what has even more airtime? Wild One, the only old wooden coaster that's still smooth. I would love to ride you... I swear, this ride is down more often than Batwing. At least I can stare at this awesome helix in peace. Daww...its a cute little Intamin... Anyone know what ride this was in line for? Believe it or not, this is still at a Six Flags park. 1-UP! It was an awesome day at Six Flags America. The park has really improved since I last went, and I should be returning multiple times this year. That's all, folks! Edited January 14, 2014 by Voxelmatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArundelHigh Coasters Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Nice TR and photos! Everything looked great. Did you notice the fresh paint on some of the Joker's Jinx supports? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voxelmatic Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 ^Thanks! I saw the paint, and as awesome as a repaint would be on Joker, I think Batwing needs one much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArundelHigh Coasters Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I thought they'd paint Batwing before they'd paint anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacoaster09 Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 One comment I want to make is that... Penguin's Blizzard River, won't get stuck because its cold... It just makes for an uncomfortable ride... hopefully no body in their right mind rode it... however, the coasters, have operating temperatures which (if too cold) cannot run for risk of stalling/valleying. Silver Dollar City had to keep most of their coasters (even outlaw run) around the same week because temps were too low. So its not un-common. The good news is, the temps rose enough for them to open all their coasters eventually. I love the newly painted Looney Toons Sign. If I could make a projection.... The park is not painting Batwing, and Will not Paint Batwing because it's probably being moved to a different park. Iron Wolf was never painted and it got moved. Flashback at SFOT had not been painted and it was moved... the only exception would be DeJaVu which had got a new paint job around when Terminator was build (I think) which isn't too far off. The way I see it, is why pour the money into a ride if its going to get moved. Although I love Batwing... I feel like the parks neglect of it is subliminally foreshadowing its future.... So I wonder who will get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aceattack52 Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Batwing needs paint. Does it usually have a monster of a line like Nighthawk at Carowinds? At any time during the day, even at closing, Nighthawk as a 2-3 hour line. I would say it's not even that good, but another thing is that the operations for Nighthawk aren't so good, it takes almost 5 minutes to dispatch a train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voxelmatic Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 ^Operations aren't that bad on Batwing, but it's still a pretty slow moving line. The line was only about fifteen minutes though, a five train wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal1br3tto Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Sounds like the weather was opposite from what it was during my visit last year. We should've split the difference. Also, I should've stopped to recall that GCIs are often front seat rides, as Roar was forgettable in the back. Great report; totally brought back memories of my trip, but I enjoyed it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
necoastergp Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 One comment I want to make is that... Penguin's Blizzard River, won't get stuck because its cold... It just makes for an uncomfortable ride... hopefully no body in their right mind rode it... however, the coasters, have operating temperatures which (if too cold) cannot run for risk of stalling/valleying. Silver Dollar City had to keep most of their coasters (even outlaw run) around the same week because temps were too low. So its not un-common. The good news is, the temps rose enough for them to open all their coasters eventually. If you look in the second pic of Penguin there are people in the raft, clearly not in their right mind as it looks absolutely frigid in those pics. The guy with the 1 up hat looked miserable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voxelmatic Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 The guy with the 1 up hat looked miserable. Oh, he wasn't, I just got a bad picture of him :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voxelmatic Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 California Trip Part 1: Universal Studios Hollywood (7/6/13) It's been a while, hasn't it? Never too late to post a trip report. So, in case you couldn't tell, this past summer I took a trip to South California. I went to Universal Studios, Knott's, Magic Mountain, and both Disney parks. It was my first time here, so I didn't have much to go off of for experience. After an early morning flight from Washington, DC, I landed at LAX around 11:30 California time. This was on the same day the plane crashed in San Fransisco, so the airport was a little bit crazy. I got off of the plane around noon, grabbed the rental car with my dad, and went straight to the hotel at Universal. First off, I'm going to say how impressive the park looked, looming over the side of the hill it's on. I wasn't expecting it, and it was spectacular. I was excited for the park before hand, but I instantly fell in love with the way it looked. When my dad and I got to the hotel, we checked in, and walked to the park. I liked the entrance of it, which I had seen basically no pictures of before hand. It was a lot crazier than the New York area in Orlando, but I didn't dislike it. Also, I think they were building Despicable Me while I was there, or at least I'm pretty sure it was. Dodging past the hordes of people, the first ride I rode that trip was Revenge Of The Mummy. I rode it seven times that day thanks to the Single Rider Line. I instantly rode Transformers, and it was a stunning attraction in my opinion. I prefer it to Spiderman. Jurassic Park was very photogenic, but it was the same as Orlando's version. Back on the upper lot, I rode the Studio Tour. What looked like an hour wait was only about thirty minutes, so that was a pleasant surprise. The Fast and the Furious stunt was closed, but I don't think I missed that much. I liked Kong, but it wasn't nearly as good as House of Horrors. After returning to the lower lot for more rides on Mummy, the day ended with The Simpsons Ride. I still miss Back To The Future, and hope to visit Japan some day to ride it. Revenge Of The Mummy: This was a pleasant surprise. I didn't prefer it to Florida's, but the backstory for this version was much better. I also noticed that it had a lot of good air spots, which would be a common theme for almost all of the launched rides I rode this trip. (x7) Transformers 3D: Wow. One of my friends who had been on this really didn't like it, so I honestly wasn't expecting too much. I was blown away. The 3D was much cleaner than Spiderman's, along with it having a better plot and everything. Why couldn't the movies be like this? (x2) Jurassic Park: A lot more effects were working here than in Florida, plus less stacking issues. Otherwise, it was enjoyable, but not good enough to warrant a re-ride. (x1) King Kong 360: It was overrated, but a nice way to introduce younger people to King Kong. Studio Tour: I really enjoyed it! The different parts of it pieced together really well, although the guy singing the tram song got annoying at the end. (x1) House of Horrors: I got scared. Although, I hope it's a good preview for HHN, as I might go sometime. Simpsons: Same as Orlando, it was entertaining, but I would really prefer Back To The Future. Transformers peeking over Mummy. Not the most subtle entrance you can have to a ride. World's smallest Transformer. If you didn't know better, you would think this is in Florida. "There's nothing wrong with our dinosaurs." "That's not a dinosaur." You do have to admit, it looks menacing. I didn't think they would have real fire, but it was a cool addition anyways. This was my favorite picture of Jurassic Park. Breaking News: Giant car terrorizes Hollywood. I'm not sure how many people stopped in this museum. Time And Relative Deloreans In Space. TARDIS, for short. A parting shot of Jurassic Park. It was crowded today. I don't think enough people admired the view from this platform. This little guy was waiting to greet us outside the hotel. If this was how the world was suspended, SeaWorld wouldn't have needed Storm Coaster. The red carpet was clearly not for me today. This was a cute little statue, plus I liked the courtyard setting. Was this Despicable Me? House of Horrors. So scary, non-TPR POVs seem like heaven. These people were yelling at us for no reason. "Hey, kids! Don't forget to play in my mouth before you go!" I'm happy this isn't a studio tour of FOX. Which giant animal is going to eat me next? Backside of the New York set. A bigger, blacker car. I still don't understand the point of this. I'm not the reason it came here, I swear! "Oh. So that's where they went." The maintenance staff neglects this area of the park worse than the bathrooms at SFMM. Water. More water. Sploosh! Whew, I though I would miss the bathroom there... "Welcome to Amity Island, where there are absolutely no sharks. At all. And this report ends with the world's only backstroke swimming shark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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