5 replies to this topic

[pǝʇɹǝʌuı]

So I said my goodbyes with my final coaster, Elapid, but I still love roller coasters and I couldn't pass up a trip report from my latest adventure. (For those curious, Elapid still looks to be my final coaster as I am preparing for college, however, don't mob me if something comes out this spring.)

Let me start by saying that we had a great day at SFMM. We bought the flash pass and it was sooooo worth it. We easily doubled our rude count simply because we could save one ride while waiting in line for another.

I was disappointed to find that X2, which is arguably the park's signature ride, was closed. Upon further investigation I found that it had been closed for months due to mechanical issues. If you hear anything about it reopening or, if worst comes to worst, closing forever, I want to know.

First things first, we reserved a flash pass spot for Tatsu. We were to return 1.5 hours later. The flash pass really came in handy here. Since for some reason the park doesn't run more than one train on a roller coaster to start the day, the line for Tatsu quickly grew to 3 hours (They later added a second train, but I've noticed this issue with different rides on different trips to Magic Mountain. Like, seriously, just run full capacity to start). Anyway we rode Batman (30 minutes) and then walked on Scream twice while waiting for Tatsu. Unfortunately Batman was still running forwards. And, of course, Tatsu was amazing.

Goliath was next on our list for the flash pass as its line tends to be long. The wait on the flash pass was one hour. We waited out Lex Luthor Drop of Doom, which took longer than the predicted 45 minutes due to unexplained starting and stopping in line. Let me tell you though, it's been a while since I've been scared by a ride. Drop of Doom not only gives you a ton of free fall time but also a ton of anticipation. The roller coaster tower sways as you wait at the top. You can see super far (there's nothing around the park). It's awesome.

Goliath was good. Full throttle does not work with the cheapest flash pass (yet?) so we reserved a spot on Superman and waited. The capacity of Full Throttle is deceivingly large. That line moves pretty quickly. It's an excellent ride. I'd say, if you are comparing the parks, it's the SFMM version of Maverick. It's that good. It looks lame in videos but it's actually quite forceful.

So you launch straight out of the station and suddenly you're upside down. A few seconds later and you're still upside down. Hanging. Since it was a night ride we saw a bunch of lights which appeared to be on the ceiling. This loop is like nothing I've ever experienced on another roller coaster. Go try it. Anyway, you finally pull out of the loop in to some twisty curves before diving into a trippy tunnel. You're stopped abruptly and are forced to wait a few seconds in anticipation before you're shot backwards only to be flipped upside down again back up the dive loop. You pull through the tunnel one more time and get a boost to push you to the top of the top hat. What came after surprised me. Coming off the top hat you dive near vertical. The ejector air from that combined with the sudden stop halfway down the hill kinda knocks the air out of you. I liked it.

Superman needs a better queuing system. We got in the flash pass spot and waited 30 minutes before getting on. The lines for some of the rows are unfairly long. Riddler's Revenge has the same problem, which is why I led the group to avoid that ride this trip. I remember Superman being great just because you are shot into deep space, but this time, having already been high up on Drop of Doom and being cold because of the frigid night air of the desert, I didn't have the same experience.

On the plus side we were able to save a spot on Green Lantern as we waited for Superman. I had a bad ride with Green Lantern. My cousin and I faced 45 degrees face down for a good majority of the ride. We were on the side that faces away from the ride as you go up the lift. Lots of forces were acted on my body in a painful direction. Lots of pressure on my chest on the restraint. To top it off we landed upside down on the brakes. Interesting and different ride experience? Yes. Painful? Even more so. Such a shame too. I had such a good time last time I rode that thing. I guess it's just luck of the draw when you have a free spinning ride.

We decided, since we had the flash pass, to hit up Tatsu one more time before we left. It was an incredible ride as always and will not easily get kicked off my top 5 list. Lucky for us the ride attendant scanned our little flash pass device wrong so we took advantage of it and rode again. It's not everyday that you get to ride Tatsu two times back to back.

Overall a good day. Total ride count was 11, which is not bad at all considering we started after noon and the park closed at 8. The crowd was moderate; I've come on days with twice as many people and also on days where lines didn't exceed 30 minutes. The flash pass saved the day, though.

Grand total:
Batman - 30 minute wait - 7/10
Scream 2x - <10 minute wait - 8/10
Tatsu - 90 minute flash pass - 10/10
Lex Luthor Drop of Doom - 45-60 minute wait - 9/10
Goliath - 60 minute flash pass - 8/10
Full throttle - 60 minute wait (90 minutes predicted) - 10/10
Superman - 60 minute flash pass + 30 minute wait - 6/10
Green Lantern - 45 minute flash pass + 30 minute wait - 3/10 (this time around)
Tatsu 2x - 60 minute flash pass (messed up so we got to re-ride) - 10/10

If this park re-opens X2 and fixes some queue issues it will be better than Cedar Point for roller coaster fans. Right now they're about level on the playing field. Very comparable for sure.

And just because I found it interesting, the demographics of SFMM versus CP are totally different. CP is overwhelmingly white while SFMM is mostly Mexican, Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern with a lot of African American workers (coming from a guy in a very white community). I heard a lot of Spanish and quite a few Indian and Middle Eastern languages. Also, a lot of people at SFMM have "swag" hence Full Throttle's "YOLO" marketing. I felt like such a nerd all day long.

[~stεεlspectrum~]

X2 has been broken down for months. The lift hill chain broke, which as you can imagine, would be complicated and expensive to fix. If you go in the Sky Tower, they have an exhibit of chain links from their different rides. X2's are massive.

I'm not surprised about Green Lantern being painful...it always is for me too. If you remember the pain more than the fun, that's not a good thing That ride was a bad investment, IMO.

I went on Monday (3 days ago) and I really appreciate Full Throttle's queue. They have a video of extreme sports set to music that's perfectly geared toward the younger crowd. I love it. The video loops, but I only had to watch it once before I moved past the screen. ^ How do you feel about it?

[Gvus]

I went back in mid october (18th), x2 was closed back then and I had no idea why at the time. I agree that full throtyle is an amazing ride, in my opinion it supplies the perfect balence of airtime, inversions, hangtime, and high g forces.

When I went we got platinum flash passes, so the longest line we waited in with them was 15min for tatsu (reservation time was only 30sec, but then there was a difficulty), later we went on full throttle without them scince its reservations cost extra and it was only like 30min.

One last thing I should say is that at night I was in line for front row of batman with my dad (he brought me), and a guy, maybe 18-20, lether jacket was there and I started explaining some 'coaster' stuff to my dad and started talking to the guy, he showed me some pics of poltergeist on his phone (how the conversation got to there I don't know). I kinda think this guy is an ssc member, he was calm on the coaster, looked like he was chillin on the couch, he knew a lot about coasters. So I'm wondering if I'm right, was this one of you guys?

Edit: you only got 11rides in, not to brag, but I got in 37 across 13 hours.

Edited by Gvus, 02 January 2014 - 12:27 PM.

[pǝʇɹǝʌuı]

X2 has been broken down for months. The lift hill chain broke, which as you can imagine, would be complicated and expensive to fix. If you go in the Sky Tower, they have an exhibit of chain links from their different rides. X2's are massive.

I'm not surprised about Green Lantern being painful...it always is for me too. If you remember the pain more than the fun, that's not a good thing That ride was a bad investment, IMO.

I went on Monday (3 days ago) and I really appreciate Full Throttle's queue. They have a video of extreme sports set to music that's perfectly geared toward the younger crowd. I love it. The video loops, but I only had to watch it once before I moved past the screen. ^ How do you feel about it?

Good to know about X2's chain. I guess that means it will open back up. I'll try to get to the park as soon as I can to ride that and hopefully batman backwards. As for Green Lantern, I'm usually the first guy to defend a ride that is painful, but the thigh-crushing restraints combined with excessive force on my chest hurt too much to not call it out. It was an interesting ride, I'll give it that, but it was not interesting enough for me to want to do it again. As for Full Throttle's queue, being the day after Christmas the park was moderately crowded, so we waited through 2 loops of the video. I appreciated the entertainment, but I think the video was trying a little too hard to advertise the coaster. My cousin and I were making fun of it, especially the "YOLO, Live Full Throttle, ride a roller coaster" message.

I went back in mid october (18th), x2 was closed back then and I had no idea why at the time. I agree that full throtyle is an amazing ride, in my opinion it supplies the perfect balence of airtime, inversions, hangtime, and high g forces.

When I went we got platinum flash passes, so the longest line we waited in with them was 15min for tatsu (reservation time was only 30sec, but then there was a difficulty), later we went on full throttle without them scince its reservations cost extra and it was only like 30min.

One last thing I should say is that at night I was in line for front row of batman with my dad (he brought me), and a guy, maybe 18-20, lether jacket was there and I started explaining some 'coaster' stuff to my dad and started talking to the guy, he showed me some pics of poltergeist on his phone (how the conversation got to there I don't know). I kinda think this guy is an ssc member, he was calm on the coaster, looked like he was chillin on the couch, he knew a lot about coasters. So I'm wondering if I'm right, was this one of you guys?

Edit: you only got 11rides in, not to brag, but I got in 37 across 13 hours.

Not everyone has money for those kinds of passes . The regular flash pass ($40) plus admission was about $85 (online, that is), our justification being that it still costs less than a Disneyland ticket. The platinum pass alone costs more than that ($95 + admission, for those wondering). Sounds like you had a good day, though! For me personally, I'm content with 11 rides.

The guy on batman, in all likeliness, is probably not an SSC member. I'm not trying to be mean, just pointing something out to you. I'm very surprised at the spike in popularity in this website since I joined, however you have to remember that there are plenty of other forums and roller coaster websites out there. Theme Park Review, Coaster Force, and local park forums (Kings Island Central for me) are often a lot more real world ride oriented rather than model roller coaster oriented. There's a chance he's on here, but you also have to remember that the majority of SSC members are younger than what you described. I'd venture to say that most regular users are probably middle school to early high school aged. I know that the admins and a lot of the big name builders are older, however a lot of them started young. Correct me if my assumptions are wrong.

[Gvus]

^ I do relise that it is very unlikely the guy is an ssc member, just thought I better check.

I wouldn't normaly be able to afford those passes, but it was just me and my dad, admission was only $57, and my dad said that it may be the only time ill be there in my life, so screw it, we blew all our money on it, and it was a great day.

[Batwing]

Buuump, but still. As you requested information, X2 has now reopened! (Since I believe the 19th of Jan)

More here: http://www.themepark...402653#p1402653