TR - SFGADV - APril 2nd

[edboxer]

Trip Report - SFGADV - April 2nd 10:00-5:00 (free tickets, yeah)

 

Arrived just after the running of the rope. Windy, Sunny.

 

Headed right for Batman the Ride (I was with a friend who wanted to ride that first.... Pretty much a walk on that early. Nice ride, prefer Talon. After Batman,

 

Nitro. It was my first ride on Nitro and I was expecting to be impressed from all the reviews. Rode in the first row. It was cool. Love the dives. Very little air.

 

Skull Mountain. My friend hadn't been to SFGADV in 20 years. He had no idea what to expect on SM. I forewarned him anything with the initials SM was gonna hurt. Not as rough as usual.

 

Next was the mine ride, fun, ok.

 

Medusa, he'd never been on a floorless. Medusa delivered in the first half and jerked through the last half. Still a great ride. 11:20

 

So far SFGADV was much improved.

 

When we got off Medusa, we saw they were finally doing some test runs of Kingda Ka, so we headed to the line. Was in line at 11:30, the end of the long walk right before the switchbacks, supposedly the 1 hour marker. It finally started running at 12:30. Only two trains on one side of the station, 3 minutes between launches. At 2:00 we finally got our ride. Its cool, but I actually prefer Dragster. Several reasons, Dragster's theming and count down is a great tension builder. Ka just launches. Dragster's entire run is on the midway. Ka is back in the woods, you can't see it from the park, which is very poor planning on SF's part. Ka's over the shoulder harness sucks. And for what reason??? I have a long back, and it was crushing my shoulders. Which really sucks in the front row.

 

We got off Ka and got some hideously overpriced bad food. My pulled pork sandwich, two spoons of beans and slaw and a cup of water - $12.90.

 

Superman Flight had been running when we first arrived, but hadn't run since. B&R Chiller was running only the Robin side, Screeching Thunder was not running, a flat ride was still unassembled. Skyride didn't run till after 1:00. Its was looking more and more like SF the usual (which is why Dorney is my home park).

 

Went for a second Medusa ride. 30 minute line. Checked out El Toro.

 

El Toro's first drop is just sick. The park says it'll open in June?? Whole sections of support have yet to be built. I didn't see any track laid. hmmmm...

 

We saw a test run on Superman Flight so headed over. When we got there, people we exiting the queue in a steady stream. We went over and rode GASM. Ouch, Ouch Ouch Ouch. Rough ride and another short OTSR.

 

Flight was now running, we got in line. An hour later (after standing in the unprotected queue), I looked at the OTSR and said no, my shoulders were hurting. My friend rode.

Liked it. I've ridden Geauga Lake's version. This seemed to be slower.

 

Went for another ride on Nitro (30 minute wait). What a difference the afternoon made. It was flying with great floating air all over the place. Now I can understand some of the hype.

 

We were leaving the park, when the park parade (vehicles, looneytoons, comicstrip) was going by, and at the end of the parade - The US Coast Guard Recruiting Team??? I was ROFL, it was so right on so many levels; looneytoons and the military.

 

As we drove out of the parking lot, we saw that Kingda Ka was down again, the queue looked empty...

 

So overall, better than my previous experiences at SFGADV. Yes, 12 rides in 7 hours wasn't too bad. But, all over the park the guests are wished a happy 45th Anniversary - got kind of annoying... And more than one staff was heard saying its all about the kids, the adults are here to make sure the kids have a good time. That got really annoying.

 

Would I got back, not anytime soon.