Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (SFDK) Discussion Thread

singemfrc · June 23, 2016

Well now they need to feel bad for making the park busy when I planned to visit by myself on Sunday.

scooterdoug · June 23, 2016

Yeah, I just got that in my email. I was thinking of going tomorrow, but may be cutting my visit short if it gets too busy. I'm hoping that people don't really start taking advantage of the offer until next week. Though it really isn't the park's fault that the ride has been down, and they clearly worked hard to get the ride back up and running as soon as possible, it's still a nice gesture.

JGuy · June 23, 2016

I'm currently planning to go on July 5th to use a free friend entry coupon. I'd like Joker to have two trains running by then, but it seems unlikely at this point.

Vonni · June 24, 2016

Maybe it wont be so bad since the BAFF option is spread out amongst several days rather than specified for one specific day?

scooterdoug · June 24, 2016

At the park. The Joker hasn't opened yet, but is testing both trains. The purple train has been going through with employees riding.

Edit: It's open now, with both trains, but they're not loading the purple train.

Fire2box · June 24, 2016

At the park. The Joker hasn't opened yet, but is testing both trains. The purple train has been going through with employees riding.

Edit: It's open now, with both trains, but they're not loading the purple train.

Did the purple train make as much noise as the green one? When I was there Wednesday that green train was making more noise then I ever heard before from The Joker or even TC at Magic Mountain.

scooterdoug · June 25, 2016

At the park. The Joker hasn't opened yet, but is testing both trains. The purple train has been going through with employees riding.

Edit: It's open now, with both trains, but they're not loading the purple train.

Did the purple train make as much noise as the green one? When I was there Wednesday that green train was making more noise then I ever heard before from The Joker or even TC at Magic Mountain.

Both trains are noisy at the bottom of the first drop, though I didn't watch the purple train in other places on the course. While the green train is noisy, it's not as noisy as it was last Tuesday.

So, I had a decent visit to the park. It was rather busy. The Joker had two out of three long sections of queue filled up. With one train operation, I guess it was at least an hour wait. I got on the ride once at noon, right after they opened it, riding the front of the second train of the day. The purple train cycled all day, heres hoping to two train operation in the near future...

Enjoy some pictures of my favorite roller coaster in California.

Love this drop. The back is all sorts of crazy.

Hello riderless purple train. We'll ride soon. Yes? Pretty please?

The airtime here is brief, but very strong.

This part is weird and wonderful.

Strong end to the ride.

Look at that train on that track. A perfect example of a heartline.

Dropping and turning.

UbiDubi · June 25, 2016

Friday Update:

Joker: As mentioned, it opened about 12:15 running both trains. Purple was running empty after they opened the ride. They were exercising the restraints after each cycle. Wait time was about an hour most of the day. Dropped to about 45 minutes late in the afternoon. The ops are now only allowing enough riders on the platform to fill the train. They are assigning rows to fill the train and then hold riders at the top of the stairs. It seems you can "request" a row, and they will allow you to go to that row. This means that there are few, if any, riders left on the platform after the train departs. Eliminates the "don't touch the gates" issue they were having.

Hammerhead: Open!

Voodoo and V2: Still closed with no activity.

Food News:

Seaside Sandwiches: Open. Most items on the dining pass.

JB's: Open. Most items on the dining pass. The place looked closed from the outside. Most people just walked by. Basically empty inside at 5:00. Different items from the old place. And they use steak fries. Multiple TVs and a bar.

Johnny Rockets: The single meal is now included in the dining pass (previously was a $1 upcharge). Double meal is now a $1 upcharge (previously was $2).

Fire2box · June 25, 2016

Very good photos thanks for sharing.

Fire2box · June 25, 2016

Friday Update:

Joker: As mentioned, it opened about 12:15 running both trains. Purple was running empty after they opened the ride. They were exercising the restraints after each cycle. Wait time was about an hour most of the day. Dropped to about 45 minutes late in the afternoon. The ops are now only allowing enough riders on the platform to fill the train. They are assigning rows to fill the train and then hold riders at the top of the stairs. It seems you can "request" a row, and they will allow you to go to that row. This means that there are few, if any, riders left on the platform after the train departs. Eliminates the "don't touch the gates" issue they were having.

Hammerhead: Open!

Voodoo and V2: Still closed with no activity.

Food News:

Seaside Sandwiches: Open. Most items on the dining pass.

JB's: Open. Most items on the dining pass. The place looked closed from the outside. Most people just walked by. Basically empty inside at 5:00. Different items from the old place. And they use steak fries. Multiple TVs and a bar.

Johnny Rockets: The single meal is now included in the dining pass (previously was a $1 upcharge). Double meal is now a $1 upcharge (previously was $2).

I got the buffalo bone-in wings at JB's sports Bar on Wednesday. 8 wings with 3 slices of celery and carrots. The sauce was like a sub-par Franks Redhot the chicken itself was alright. Was planing on trying the bacon cheesebuger for Dinner but I stuck with fish n chips. Also RIP pulled pork at SF:DK. You weren't great, but you were decent enough.

Still hoping they'll add roasted turkey leg to the dinning menu. "I would be so happy"- Craig, South Park.

singemfrc · June 25, 2016

Hammerhead: Open!

Good news, I'll have to take a spin on Sunday

singemfrc · June 25, 2016

Great news - I've heard from a friend at the park right now that Joker is running and loading both trains!

RAWKIN_coaster38 · June 25, 2016

^Great news!

Doug, great photos, and I'm glad you agree with me that it's the best in CA.

And I'm glad to hear the sandwiches are open! I peeked at their menu and they have a lot of sandwiches with produce but none that were strictly vegetarian/vegan, but I'm hoping they let us request our own sandwiches so I can request all the produce on one epic salad sandwich!

Also, when I was there last in May, it looked like JBs had some more craft beer options. Can anyone confirm?

LiftThrill · June 25, 2016

Great news - I've heard from a friend at the park right now that Joker is running and loading both trains!

Awesome! I've been trying to find an excuse to get out to Cali to go to SFMM and now it looks like SFDK is on the map as well. Any park with an RMC is automatically brought up a tier because they have an RMC. Now that Joker is open, SFDK is finally settling into that tier.

singemfrc · June 25, 2016

Great news - I've heard from a friend at the park right now that Joker is running and loading both trains!

Awesome! I've been trying to find an excuse to get out to Cali to go to SFMM and now it looks like SFDK is on the map as well. Any park with an RMC is automatically brought up a tier because they have an RMC. Now that Joker is open, SFDK is finally settling into that tier.

That's so true, any park I previously wasn't excited to visit immediately gets put on my list when they get an RMC.

Fire2box · June 25, 2016

^Great news!

Doug, great photos, and I'm glad you agree with me that it's the best in CA.

And I'm glad to hear the sandwiches are open! I peeked at their menu and they have a lot of sandwiches with produce but none that were strictly vegetarian/vegan, but I'm hoping they let us request our own sandwiches so I can request all the produce on one epic salad sandwich!

Also, when I was there last in May, it looked like JBs had some more craft beer options. Can anyone confirm?

when I was in there Wensday it looked like they had a decent selection. More variety but I didn't see any craft beer that I know of. ShockTop stood out to me, but thats a Anheuser-Busch brand.

j_dreamfinder · June 26, 2016

^Great news!

Doug, great photos, and I'm glad you agree with me that it's the best in CA.

And I'm glad to hear the sandwiches are open! I peeked at their menu and they have a lot of sandwiches with produce but none that were strictly vegetarian/vegan, but I'm hoping they let us request our own sandwiches so I can request all the produce on one epic salad sandwich!

Also, when I was there last in May, it looked like JBs had some more craft beer options. Can anyone confirm?

when I was in there Wensday it looked like they had a decent selection. More variety but I didn't see any craft beer that I know of. ShockTop stood out to me, but thats a Anheuser-Busch brand.

RAWKIN_coaster38 · June 26, 2016

^ 12 options of beer, plus there's indoor seating. I'm really digging this new place. Definitely gonna have to check it out on my next visit.

singemfrc · June 26, 2016

^ 12 options of beer, plus there's indoor seating. I'm really digging this new place. Definitely gonna have to check it out on my next visit.

Since Superman is already into the upper queue and Joker is about 40 minutes even with both trains running, I think I'll go check it out right now. Especially since I have to stay here until 2:30 for the raffle drawing.

Fire2box · June 26, 2016

^ 12 options of beer, plus there's indoor seating. I'm really digging this new place. Definitely gonna have to check it out on my next visit.

Since Superman is already into the upper queue and Joker is about 40 minutes even with both trains running, I think I'll go check it out right now. Especially since I have to stay here until 2:30 for the raffle drawing.

Raffle Drawing? What's it for?

singemfrc · June 26, 2016

^ 12 options of beer, plus there's indoor seating. I'm really digging this new place. Definitely gonna have to check it out on my next visit.

Since Superman is already into the upper queue and Joker is about 40 minutes even with both trains running, I think I'll go check it out right now. Especially since I have to stay here until 2:30 for the raffle drawing.

Raffle Drawing? What's it for?

Along with the backstage tour of the shark house this morning they had a wildlife fund raiser for marine wildlife and they had various raffle prizes including a more in-depth tour of the shark house with an opportunity to hand feed a nurse shark, a free dolphin experience, a signed giants hat, and a dozen other things. It was $5 for 10 tickets to be spread among whatever prizes you wanted. I entered but you had to be present to win at 2:30 and I just couldnt stay and left early. At least my $ is still going to a good cause. Oh well, park was way too hot and way too busy and half the thrill rides were down (not Joker though at least - still two trains - yay!) so I was way too bored. I'll post a full TR later tonight or tomorrow morning. The shark tour was worth the trip down there today though for sure.

Fire2box · June 27, 2016

^ 12 options of beer, plus there's indoor seating. I'm really digging this new place. Definitely gonna have to check it out on my next visit.

Since Superman is already into the upper queue and Joker is about 40 minutes even with both trains running, I think I'll go check it out right now. Especially since I have to stay here until 2:30 for the raffle drawing.

Raffle Drawing? What's it for?

Along with the backstage tour of the shark house this morning they had a wildlife fund raiser for marine wildlife and they had various raffle prizes including a more in-depth tour of the shark house with an opportunity to hand feed a nurse shark, a free dolphin experience, a signed giants hat, and a dozen other things. It was $5 for 10 tickets to be spread among whatever prizes you wanted. I entered but you had to be present to win at 2:30 and I just couldnt stay and left early. At least my $ is still going to a good cause. Oh well, park was way too hot and way too busy and half the thrill rides were down (not Joker though at least - still two trains - yay!) so I was way too bored. I'll post a full TR later tonight or tomorrow morning. The shark tour was worth the trip down there today though for sure.

Sounds cool. How was the tour of the Shark exhibit? Any actual backstage area's? I also wonder if that expanded private tour would take people up on the catwalk above the tank. It would be nice if Six Flags would just release a video showing them caring for the sharks, manta rays and fish along with the catwalk.

singemfrc · June 27, 2016

Sounds cool. How was the tour of the Shark exhibit? Any actual backstage area's? I also wonder if that expanded private tour would take people up on the catwalk above the tank. It would be nice if Six Flags would just release a video showing them caring for the sharks, manta rays and fish along with the catwalk.

Yes and yes. We got to go upstairs to the backstage area (hence no photos) but we werent allowed to go up on the catwalks. There was a green line on the ground around the tanks and we were told not to cross it. The raffle winner, however, would get to go up on the catwalk to feed the shark. They did do a little bit of feeding while we were up there which brought lots of fish and nurse sharks up to the top for us to see up close.

laqueefa · June 27, 2016

Anyone want to guess how busy the park will be this Wednesday?

singemfrc · June 27, 2016

TR for Sunday - I had just been to the park the previous weekend, but they advertised the special shark experience backstage tour for season pass holders so that enticed me to drive down again Sunday morning despite having a crazy busy schedule this weekend. Got home in Sacramento from San Francisco at 1am Sunday morning, then got up at 7 to drive right back to Vallejo in the morning for the shark tour which was scheduled for 10am.

They really didn't do any kind of advertising for the event in the park other than the employees inside of the shark building, but once inside they had tables set up and a couple of their animal staff employees were there answering questions selling raffle tickets and telling people about the event.

The backstage tour was advertised in the newsletter as a season pass holder only event, but they actually just let anyone who walked up and was interested go back and take the tour, which I thought was nice since there weren't a whole lot of people. In groups of 10 or so they took us out the back door around the corner and up the stairs that lead to the backstage area for the shark building. We were shown their quarantine tank where they are holding animals that are being separated at the moment, then we went through the kitchen where they prepare food for the animals, and then they took us into the large room above the tanks. There was a green stripe running on the floor about a foot away from the perimeter of the tanks, and we were told to stay behind the green line and that we could not take any photos. Understandable both.

She grabbed some fish food from the fridge and tossed it in the tank for the bony fish (the not-sharks) and quickly most of the fish in the area darted up to the top of the tank to grab some food along with the nurse sharks. We were told they have to be careful when feeding around the nurse sharks because unlike the other sharks who won't eat more than a couple times a week, the nurse sharks eat just about anything whenever possible and would basically just eat themselves into a food coma if they were allowed to.

She answered some questions that some people in the group had and told us about one of the female sharks that had what appeared to have some damage to one of it's fins. She explained that several years ago when they used to have male sharks in the tank as well, one of the male sharks was attempting to mate with this female who evidently was not as enthused about the idea and was putting up a fight causing some damage to the fin. The trainer told us that they get a lot of questions about it what with the current attitude of a lot of people, but it's something that happens commonly in the wild as well. Interestingly she said that this fin damage actually allows this shark a little bit better maneuverability on the bottom of the tank, so they actually have to be careful that she doesn't steal food away from other sharks that can't move as fast.

She told us that they were holding a raffle and that one of the prizes was to get to come back later and go up onto the catwalks and hand feed a nurse shark. I entered that raffle, but the drawing was at 2:30 and you had to be present to win, and I wasn't planning to stay that long.

We got out of the shark tour at about 10:25, so I thought great just enough time to get over and ride Joker a couple of times when it opens. Due to the access to the Shark building being necessary, they were doing rope drop in front of the dolphin discovery area rather than over by white rapids where they usually do it, and there were a lot of people waiting. They dropped the rope on time, but unfortunately despite Joker having been running test cycles since 10am, they didn't start loading riders until about 10:45. Lots of people were having trouble following instructions not to put the lap bars down themselves making for slower dispatches than necessary.

I got my first ride in the best spot, the back left seat. I then walked around to get a second ride in and noticed that for some odd reason they had open up the long switchbacks that wrap around the prelift track but had blocked off the second half of the shaded queue in the tent. I would have used the tent switchbacks first since they were in the shade. Unfortunately right before I got to the stairs the ride went down so it ended up being about a 60 minute wait for my second lap, so I then decided that the second would be my last.

Unfortunately since V2, Kong, and Hammerhead were all down for the day and Joker, Superman, Medusa, and even Boomerang had unusually long lines it kind of left me with nothing I wanted to do. I don't know what's up with V2, it's been down forever and the disassembled train is just sitting in the station in pieces. Don't know about Kong either...last week it was down and they said they were working on getting it back up later in the day, but it never came up that day or since and there was zero activity over there Sunday.

Superman was into the upper queue and Boomerang's queue looked nearly full. Medusa's queue spilled out of the station, but I didn't look to see how much they were using the switchbacks or how many people were being held in the station. Medusa can be deceiving that way.

With it being so hot and busy in the park I decided to leave before the raffle drawing since I had to be back in Sacramento by 3:30 for a family thing anyway.

I decided to take the new buses out to the parking lot that SFDK has now, just like the ones SFMM got not too long ago, and man that air conditioning was sublime. On the way out I noticed the parking lot was almost full. All but a small chunk of the upper G lot was full. When I drove out, I noticed that the fairground overflow lot was being used and there were already quite a few cars in there. Looks like the word got out about the bring a friend free deal.