Just like I never got DisneySea, I never clocked that this place was a Berry Farm until the station audio said Knott’s… Berry Farm. I’ve been saying it Knotts-berry Farm all my life.
Thanks to the late night preview, I had some sort of a plan for the following morning. Hit that mouse first. Don’t want another CGA situation.
#1 CoastRider
Well this was terrible. The local obsession with shin bars has made its way to one of these and the result is rather uncomfortable, to the point where a guy in front of me said “nah I’m not doing this” as soon as they put the bars down and got them to let him out. You haven’t thought this one through have you boys? It’s that Legoland layout as well – crap.
Xcelerator was still doing an Intamin, so jumped back on Hangtime while it was still quiet at this end.
Hangtime (#700)
I like this thing. They’re not trying to be the best thing ever, but coming out with some good solid compact layouts now with proper trains.
The hang on the holding brake with so little area of contact between yourself and the restraint is just fantastic for those who appreciate that sort of exposed feeling and probably quite terrifying for your average guest.
Other than that it’s like half of Smiler (which I enjoy) with proper trains, including the crazy speed hill between inversions. Disorientating fun.
Obviously the night rides were better. The lighting package they have inside the track that syncs up with music in the station was a real spectacle to behold. Not that it isn’t pretty in the day as well.
#2 Xcelerator
They fixed it. I once sat next to a random guy on Stealth who loved it but said it was short. “It would be better if it did up and down and woop de woop” (gesturing other manoeuvres with his hands). “They have those in other parks” I said, agreeing that it would probably be an improvement.
This one isn’t. The corners do nothing and you sacrifice the fun hill-nnnnnnnnnn-brakes moment. Yawn. So what’s up with half the rides at this place not having enough air gates for the number of rows? I got spited several times by some terrible batching with guests and staff not understanding the concept. Only 2 of 4 people have moved forward into these 4 seats, but I won’t search behind that gate for a 1 or 2, I’ll start calling for people at the other end of the train. Highlight of the ride was helping out some Korean girls who were confused by the front row queue system.
Montezooma’s Revenge
+1ed this Shuttle Loop the previous night and never went back for it. I like the way the lights go out half a second before the launch. Makes a satisfying set of noises. Other than that, Shuttle Loop.
#3 Jaguar!
Jaguar time. The rare custom Tivoli. Nice to try a unique layout and the interaction with other rides was fun. Imagine that indoor queue can get pretty grim if it’s busy.
#4 Pony Express
Only this Zamperla Moto(Horse)coaster was left cred-wise (not true, but that can wait). It broke down as we got to the station. Nothing major, camped it out for completion and after everyone else had left the queue, it re-opened. Didn’t even need testing.
Ugh, Motorbikes. Seating position seemed slightly less offensive as a horse. Layout was very short and didn’t do a whole lot, but probably a better simulation of what you’re supposed to be doing than the standard Zamperla/Golden Horse layout.
Dark ride time. I like the fact that Voyage to the Iron Reef was trying to link itself to the park in the storyline but it soon got massively confusing and suffered from that issue where having to shoot screens distracts from storytelling. The fact the guns shot ice and it built up on things over time was kinda different and cool.
Better dark ride time. The website sold Calico Mine Ride as something special and it actually is. An actual train ride though the mine – what a great idea. Loads of detail and interesting scenes, effects, smells too (who knew dynamite smelt so nice?). Only complaint would be sitting awkwardly sideways dodging other people’s legs and hurting your neck to see some of the scenery.
Timber Mountain Log Ride was nearby and only down as a maybe on my list, but that was a mistake. Didn’t expect more lengthy and intense dark ride scenes akin to a cowboy Splash Mountain. I believe it actually inspired it. Definitely not one to miss.
Did the train cos it looked nice. Route and views left a little to be desired around the back of the park, when you just run the perimeter fence and either stare out at the road or the back of sheds. Appreciate the live actors doing a little comedy train robbery scene mid-ride though.
The big coasters were all holding their queues, so couldn’t really be bothered for any more laps on this day. Jumped on the observation tower for some views and then headed out early.
Guess I’ll talk the rest now.
GhostRider
It was a pleasant surprise to see new GCI trains on GhostRider. I only knew that it had had some work done on the track. If the ride was bad before, it’s definitely paid off.
It’s got a weirdly mixed layout that makes for a great ride. A couple of huge air time filled drops, questionable flat turnarounds, joyful bouncy twisty sections that appear out of nowhere (my absolute favourite thing on woodies) and the hilariously intense lateral section through the structure. Also just goes on and on. Really solid stuff, favourite wood of the trip.
Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet is weak. Think that shallow first drop has somewhat of a reputation and it is definitely a bit of a joke when you’re on it. The train had a dodgy shuffle (probably from not taking anything fast enough) and the ride provided none of the signature strong positives or snappy transitions that make a B&M invert special. If a back row at night can’t sell you on one of these, you’ve done something wrong.
Shame, looks nice.
Sierra Sidewinder
The Mack spinner was unfortunate. Never got a decent spin on it. I loved it as the Spiderman incarnation and this still had the overly intense helices (better than the invert) but otherwise fell a little short.
Another park of mixed feelings really. It took me 4 separate visits to get everything I wanted out of it (popped back in another couple of times after this) so it was always too busy to get a real judge of the place. Quite often the operations didn’t help that, the single rider idea only existing on 1 ride for 1 hour on 1 day was a bit of a tease and some other incidents just plain sucked. It has a couple of nice areas and unique attractions, but none of the creds are amazing enough to provide much pull to me for the future.
Turning up to this park felt like a real chore rather than something to look forward to due to the stupidly extortionate price and knowing I was in for a spite. I just can’t say no to Mack rides (or more specifically achieving the full set of their launch coaster layouts, for a few months). Had a better time than expected thankfully, even if this report won’t show it.
They half-arsed the rope drop leaving some people to get cut in half while surging forward. Essential cleaning needed.
Having to do another Premier Sky Rocket was the main chore, not gonna put up with queuing for a second one of these.
#1 Electric Eel
It’s so obnoxiously worse than the original. The ‘comfort collars’ on the restraints are just so impractical you can’t even get into the train properly. I don’t see the point in them and they pretty much ruin a semi-decent ride. Well done to the world for finding multiple ways of doing that.
#2 Manta
On to better things.
Sigh… lockers. Mack make a great little baggage holder for their rides don’t you know? But of course that would take away a source of revenue that makes your customers feel more ripped off.
Back at home in the best trains in the world. Let’s see what you’ve got Manta. I don’t know how this runs normally, but the launch section was under a poor projection screen with a few snowflakes on it and Santa is saying “ho-ho-ho lets slow this ride down for Christmas.” Someone replies “we can’t slow it down.” And off you go. Quality.
I wasn’t expecting a huge amount from this and came off equal parts pleased and disappointed. It does have good moments and it is a fun ride, but whose idea was it to put trim brakes directly before the 2nd launch? It’s like when I couldn’t build multi launches properly in RCT2, only someone commissioned this as a final product. Well done to the world for ruining that sensation.
Let’s have another Mack track porn session then.
Nope, stop, the flamingos have killed it.
Never done an Orca show before, so slithered in for that. To answer the question in the picture – no. But I know more now.
Not 100% on how the line goes. Jump Free Willy?
Journey spiting. Expected.
Rapids spiting. Unexpected. These guys were in the same place just staring both times I looked, about 4 hours apart, so it’s obviously broke.
Did most of the other animal stuff.
There was a weird simulator ride called Wild Arctic before the arctic exhibits, it didn’t make much sense. I appreciate the way it was themed to taking you to the exhibit as if it was on location, but fairly sure they said we were in a helicopter, a helicopter that crashes underwater during the journey and comes out of it alright. Huh.
I like the way this staff member has been working with penguins so long that they now stand like one.
I’d rather climb into and lie down in the ‘touch the shark’ exhibit than pay this park upcharge for rides like the observation tower so our time here soon drew to a close after that.
Knott Sea World
It was time to drive back up to L.A. and there were a few spare hours in the evening so had some more Cedar Fair season pass fun and popped into Knott’s for a preview.
Glad I did this as it took a lot of pressure off the main visit tomorrow by ticking off all the big coasters (#3 – #7 for the day) bar Xcelerator, which was doing an Intamin. It was also the only time of the trip that GhostRider was spontaneously running a single rider queue, if only for a few brief minutes.
Sauntered down to San Diego for a spot of sightseeing.
Balboa Park was the starting point. Buildings. Museums. All that fun stuff. Highlight: Riding a shuttle bus with highly sensual smooth jazz. Lowlight: 6 pounds for Dippin’ Dots.
Not to be confused with Belmont Park where the cred is.
Expected a similar affair to Santa Cruz, but it was a significantly smaller and quieter park. Only had 1 thing to do on my list and that 1 thing was open. Success!
There’s a nice little museum in the ticket office, showing a bit more respect for their history as well, rather than just painting a few facts on a cheap queueline wall like Santa Cruz.
Another fun tunnel start. They like this idea don’t they? The actual ride was a bit weaker. Really crawling over those hills and crunching in those dips. S’alright though.
There’s the beach and sea. 2 in 1.
Then it was on to Point Loma. Wanted to go a bit further down to the end of the peninsula, but it was closed off due to a ‘government shutdown’. Assume Trump was up to something.
So this meant the most accessible part of the point was a load of military gravestones.
Giving the views over the city and the pacific a bit more of a sombre touch.
According to my research, there was a huge difference in the number of attractions between this park and the main park, so opted to spend what should have been the busier day here, then give it a week to calm down. This ended up being the first case of crowd control that worked better than anticipated.
As we learnt in Japan, we like to wing a Disney. None of this planning years in advance, paying more money to book fastpass for a bit of food on an app business. Just stroll up with a list of attractions, don’t learn the park layout, see how it goes. The main thing is just to get there for opening, especially when they have weird and obscure early hours like 8:30am. Assume normal people won’t cope with that.
Grabbed a free fastpass for Soarin’ and discovered the rapids wasn’t running yet.
Ended up at The Little Mermaid. Not seen one of these before. (That architecture looks familiar though).
As an omnimover with physical sets this is like a mid-tier Disney dark ride. Not speeding through glorified cardboard cutouts, not blowing your mind. A standard retelling of the tale in a couple of minutes accompanied by some classic songs featuring decent animatronics. Enjoyed.
#1 Incredicoaster
Walked straight onto Incredicoaster. Didn’t know this was a thing that happened until I looked it up a couple of months prior and wondered what happened to California Screamin? Apparently they’ve loosely chucked a theme on an old ride, but Violet herself had the balls to acknowledge this in one of the character queueline TV sequences. (The stuff on the TVs is probably the best bit about the change).
The ride itself is interesting, if not very good. The first launch loses all momentum into the first tunnel and there’s a lot of high up corners of not much. There’s an odd lift hill with quite a cool drop, the loop is weirdly jarring and doesn’t behave like the rest of the track. The hills towards the end are OK at best and they should have got rid of the shoulder restraints when snazzing up the trains.
There’s cardboard cutouts of the main characters spread throughout the tunnels and on board audio that doesn’t particularly set the scene, in fact it gets quite obnoxious towards the end even on a first go, taking a very long helix while 4 or 5 characters individually just shout the name “Jack Jack” between long pauses. I guess it’s a decent attempt to theme a coaster of that scale, but it can obviously never work too well as an after thought.
Grabbed a fastpass for Cars, walked onto Soarin’.
Missed this in Shanghai cos they’re so desperately in love with these rides over there. I’ve done too many ‘inspired’ versions before the real thing so I don’t really care any more and to be honest, it’s not significantly better than those like I expected from a Disney attraction. I only noticed an improvement in the smells. It is quite funny to see just how ‘inspired’ some the other ones are though, complete with the ending over the park and fireworks going off. It was nice to sit there thinking I’ve been to a lot of these places (Paris aside). And there’s the Great Wall. I miss China now.
Walked onto Grizzly River Run feeling a little underprepared. No idea what this rapids ride does, what’s the worst that could happen? I like that on these really. A ton more fun when there’s a bit of jeopardy involved.
Great stuff. Decent pace and nearly constant threat. There’s a proper wtf moment with an almost vertical drop in there somewhere, not quite Hafema crazy but still amazing. Then the big drop clamps you at the top and initiates a spin on the boat as you go down, which was pretty radical. Only thing it left me wanting was for the geyser section at the end to be a bit more active.
Had the best character interaction ever as we usually avoid these like the plague but there was no escaping a lone Pluto on a desolate path in the middle of nowhere. Never spoke a word but got a full photoshoot (11 different poses) out of it. That’s my style.
Not a clone – Monsters Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue ride? I’m all for that. The queue was almost as good as the ride here, really detailed and clever with lots of in-world signage and some hilarious monster based adverts on the TVs. It’s got the hanging off doors bit I recall from the film, but the premise was getting into taxis for a tour of the city so I guess it’s not a full retelling, just inspired scenes. There was one signature bit of Disney magic with the chameleon bloke in there somewhere too. Enjoyed.
Only queue with any length in the day goes to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout, which is cool. It’s the ‘new’ one I guess. And it’s stupidly fantastic. Might be a smidge of IP bias as I’m a lot more into the Marvel franchise than your vanilla Disney things.
I spoke about shoehorning themes onto existing rides earlier, but this works far better than I had considered (I hadn’t considered it at all, I’ve paid no attention to this development). They’ve come up with a decent plot to make it all work and really thought it through to the point where the talk about scanning your hands while just waiting to go into the pre-show is tied into the story and gives you reason, as park guests often sit outside of a plotline, to be a part of the experience.
Ahhhhhhhh. That raccoon animatronic is INSANE. It isn’t one. They’ve paid the real Rocket to staff this ride. I just spoke about in-world details and there’s SO much Marvel stuff going on in the pre-show room, I probably missed 90% of it but hey there’s a Walkman there on that shelf. Sure enough it gets stolen by a furry hand in plain sight as you leave the room. It’s so subtle you don’t even realise how magic that effect is. What?
Ahhhhhhhh. That lift loading area. It looks so mesmerising and understated at the same time. It just triggered that Disney ‘wow’ visual I last felt in the queue of Journey.
So there’s still that one thing that lacks on these since Paris and that’s the interaction of the staff. They’re just there to give instructions and put you on a ride a this point. Which is kinda lame. The French were being creepy bastards and all the better for it. The Japanese are far too cute. Not sure what should have happened here, but I’m sure they could have come up with something other than droning ride instructions.
What doesn’t lack is the POWER of the ride. I was worried after Tokyo that I’d been desensitized to this type of attraction because it was so weak. You’re dead to me Shinjuku Ubuntu. Ahhhhhhhhh. That airtime. EXACTLY how I remember it from so long ago. Everyone just laughing their heads off with sheer pleasure and joy to the sounds and sights of the Guardians doing their stuff. Perfection. It just triggered that ‘getting emotional just describing a ride’ I last felt with Dragon Gliders.
Bought a Groot and then immediately grabbed a fastpass for another go.
Went for some lunch while waiting for Cars 1. Was gonna do pizza but they only had slices. “How much for a whole one mate?” 42 pounds. Laughed in their face.
Did the ferris wheel with the swinging cars for the novelty. Looked far more intense offride with people screaming and it violently tipping than it actually ended up being in person.
Had a dodgy mesh to hinder pictures as well. This came out quite nice though. Matterhorn. Real mountain.
I’m not a Cars 2 man but this area is very well done. Our time has finally come, why is this thing so popular? Didn’t really know what Radiator Springs Racers was. Always imagined mincing around some track and not being interesting because… Cars 3. Fortunately it has a ton of dark ride section and it’s amazing. The sheer scale, flexibility and believability of the moving and talking car characters inside blew my mind and there’s another magic trick in a mirror where the car you’re in gets ready up for a race. Soon another car full of actual people appears out of nowhere waving and you have a bit of a fun racing jaunt. I’ll say something triggering here like better than Disneysea.
This isn’t in the park. Or is it?
And that was about it really. I was right in thinking it was a very slimmed down line up at this park and surprisingly ended up as only a half a days worth as we absolutely killed it on time management. They weren’t running any sort of evening show, which is quite a major downfall for me (although better than waiting all day for that disgrace of a Tokyo one), but a couple of these rides are amongst my all time favourite Disney attractions so it’s hard to judge it against others.
Never imagined I’d be doing this. Time for a cred run after Disney.
Adventure City
is a few miles down the road, in the middle of a housing estate. Weird. I like the place though. Upon striding up and asking are the rollercoasters open? I’m immediately judged as one of those blokes with a weird hobby. As this isn’t the UK, this doesn’t also mean I’m a paedophile, but rather an ACE member. Well no, I’m not one of them either, but I am into that stuff. Then you get a discount! Sweet.
#2 Rewind Racers
So straight to one of an obscure set I’d rather like to complete. The Gerst junior boomerang as I like to call it/family shuttle as Gerstlauer like to call it. I assumed they were cloned layouts, but they’re completely different. Sadly it ain’t no Gipfelsturmer though. It doesnt have the flat top and the resultant back row kick. A surprising amount of effort went into it for this style of park though. They made a home video of a bloke in a garage giving the ride a back story, which was playing in the station. The smaller cred #3 Freeway Coaster was my first E&F Miler ride, and proud. Intense little thing that feels like anyone could have thrown together. Got some up and coming competition for the League of Goons here as one kid had clearly been on it all day with his Dad pleading that this HAS to be the last go.
In and out in 10 minutes. It’s like they knew. I respect that.
This weather doesn’t look good for rides, I sense spite incoming.
Nah, should be fine. What goes up must come down.
Deckchairs out lads, here’s the spot. Day 5 – Six Flags Magic Mountain
Apologies in advance for lack of pictures. I could stitch something together from another day, but I like the chronology (spot the 1 cheat picture). I’ll focus more on the rides this time and should have some more thorough visuals later on in the report.
I’ve (surprisingly) never tackled one of these monster parks before and wasn’t sure how full cred mode was going to pan out. I knew I was coming back here for at least one more day on the trip so wasn’t massively anxious, but there’s always that voice in the back of your mind… what if I don’t get it today and it’s not running next time?
Yet another case of poor crowd prediction. Arrival at the car park showed they had decided to extend opening by 2 hours. Highlight: more time. Lowlight: more queues.
Decided while waiting for the gates to open to opt for the clockwise approach to the park, though worryingly X2 wasn’t showing any signs of life (is everybody in?)
It was broke, so “Tatsuuuuuuuuuuuw”
#1 Tatsu
Loved the setting of this the most. Being so damn high up on top of the mountain with those views of the park and the disorientating changes of direction is rather special, along with how the pretzel loop comes so unnaturally late in the layout and is so far below the rest of the track. It’s very good, but the similarity in the other inversions didn’t do a lot for me – RCDB is very generous in calling them different names. It didn’t get stupidly intense at any point which is a shame, as that’s the main appeal of these rides for me. Might just be the sheer size of it.
Thanks for riding, make sure to check out……….. #2 Ninja. These Arrow Suspended coasters are hard to come by now. It’s another ride aided by setting. I liked the odd unnatural swinging moment the train has, the repeatedly intense helices down by the water and the fact the lift hill comes at the end. Classic.
#3 Superman: Escape from Krypton
Superman eh? It’s not just Dreamworld then. Intamin have got a knack for making 100Mph and 300ft seem really uneventful on these freefall coasters.
The Arrow mine train #4 Gold Rusher was a laugh. Another short and pointless first section like on the previous day, followed by a bit of a kick through the woods.
Apocalypse (GCI) was spiting because they’re building West Coast Racers out that way and the whole area was closed off. Shame, I wanted to assess the mixed reviews for myself. I’m also still holding out for that next ‘Great’ coaster international.
The lone dark ride while we’re here then, Justice League. Ugh, the preshows go on so long and are rather obnoxious with the Joker waffling on. Even Lex gives a few fourth wall glances to the camera as if to say ‘I wish he’d shut up too’, so I admire that attention to detail.
Had low expections and was reasonably impressed on the whole. There’s a lot of legit stuff going on in here – fire and smoke, decent physical sets. The shooting is too much of a distraction early on, then it goes stupidly blurry when you start flying underground with trains and I couldn’t really tell what went on after that.
Now things get ugly. Riddler’s Revenge was closed, just sending empty trains all morning.
Green Lantern was also spiting. Well if there’s one ride I’m happy to miss, it would be that.
#5 Batman The Ride
The B&M Invert was on 1 train. First big queue of the day then. 90 minutes gets thrown around a lot these last few days, so lets go with that. At least I liked the Six Flags trivia on the queueline TVs, sprinkled with a few Looney Tunes cartoons. It’s yet another Batman clone. On a scale of La Fuga to Diavlo, it placed squarely in the middle – not ‘ripping my feet off and screaming’ intense, not run twice a day with 4 people on it.
Scream! was spiting just because.
Twisted Colossus was claiming 3 hours for it’s queue. Whaaaa? Where did all these people come from. I’ll have to settle in for that later. Let’s scout.
Drop tower 1 hour. Skip.
Goliath 2 hours. Skip.
Kiddie creds. Took a fair amount of self-control to keep on walking.
Full Throttle 90 minutes. Maybe.
New Revolution 2 hours. Skip.
X2 still broke. Spite.
#6 Viper has single rider. Boom. They don’t know how to run it. You end up on the stairs alongside Flash Pass guests who get all confused and are waiting for their slot as you slither past them. Nod at the staff and say single rider. Staff nod back, open the gate immediately and let me into the station to roam free, regardless of the available space.
All sorts of chaos was going on, some rows packed, some rows empty, people kicking off about being their row being spited 4 times consecutively by people with exit passes. Staff shrugging and saying “that’s the assigned row, whatcha gonna do?” I was tempted to say “move to one of these empty rows”, but I let humanity do its thing. Batched myself into an empty row instead and had an empty seat next to me. The single rider system works.
I know this ride was significant at some point, but it’s just another rough and ready Arrow looper now. It crawls over the top of the lift and stops dead on the MCBR, I assume that’s mercy. The huge entry to the ugly-looking high-up first loop is so weird that I liked it and the little drop around the station at the end is kinda fun. It’s fine.
Well I’m gonna have to suck up some big queues for the more important stuff now then. Like Full Throttle.
This sums up how I was by the end of leaving the first portion of queue in front of a big screen that was going on about YOLO stuff while we stood still for a few hours.
It didn’t help that the ride broke down at some point and they never announced this or gave guidance. I’ve got that Fuji-Q feeling again. So many big names, so little time, what should I do? I stuck it out. Just keep watching the screen. Needs more footage.
#7 Full Throttle
It was a pleasant surprise though. That pause in the loop is pretty glorious, seemed to think it felt more significant than even one like Flash due to the shorter train. I’m still good at not giving myself spoilers too much for new rides so didn’t know know what happens in the tunnel. It’s fun and adds a bit of ride length to an otherwise short track layout. Back seat is good here for one of those reverse spike type sensations and I’m a sucker for any rolling launch. That air time over the loop is pretty glorious-nnnnnnnnnnnnnn-brakes. Solid.
Well it’s dark now. Settled in for a #8Goliath wait. Pretty excruciating, endlessly looking up at a train on the brake run and observing the poor throughput as the other train doesn’t dispatch promptly. It’s a very long ride cycle, but it still takes them longer to load it every time.
Expected nothing from this. Giovanola-who? Ride without prejudice. It has 2 good moments. Whatever they’ve done with that first drop gives a nice extra long sensation (in the back) that I always expect and rarely seem to get from huge rides and then the speed hill after the first turnaround was really good. I’ll say something triggering here like better than Shambhala. The rest of the layout just consists of corners really with not much going on. Good little sit down. S’alright.
Too much standing still meant I had energy to burn, and it was getting cold up on this mountain, so I started running around like a madman. I think Riddler’s Revenge is actually open now. Where’s that single rider queue?
Straight on the ride past a massive queue, batched properly, now we’re cooking.
#9 Riddler’s Revenge
I had been saying for a while that I need to ride one of these B&M Stand-ups. A dying breed and one of the few coaster types I’ve not experienced. Eww.
It’s more like perch than stand from where I’m sitting. Doesn’t give you that real ‘what the hell is this thing?’ feeling from Railbla-I mean Togo Stand-ups.
Then it gave my ears a bit of an unavoidable knobbling due to awkward restraint placement. Like one of those SLCs where they’ve padded it so densely it permanently touches your ears, just with better tracking.
Never mind. Joy awaits. I wasn’t sure how, but the RMC was now down to claiming only an hour. Soon learnt how in that it’s the only ride in the park they run with any sort of hustle. They’ve got the alien concept of 3 active trains to handle, as standard, to make the ride run as it should. They’ve got the operator constantly mithering the attendants with restraint check figures and how much they have to get their arse in gear to “race the blue (or orange((or purple))) train.” They’ve got little pouchies built into the ride to reduce phone key wallet faff.
#10 Twisted Colossus
I thought I had found love with Railblazer, but this ride took it to the next level. Again, I’m a no spoiler man, all I know is 2 lifts and a Dauling Dragon element. So at night, duelling/racing(?), not knowing what’s coming, the intensity and hilarity of that layout, is well up there with one of my best rides ever. Standing air time in the big drops and so much contrast from positives to negatives it almost hurt my neck. A wildly out of control sequence after the high five and I didn’t think it could get weirder than Wildfire’s stall, but there’s another train of people waving and getting their legs crushed directly below you on this version. Hobby defining stuff.
Noticed #11 Scream! had finally decided to show its face. It was a walk on because it turns out they don’t bother to run it for 90% of most days and hope no one notices.
I like the way the cobra roll is framed from the station and you can watch the other train take it while waiting for dispatch. I don’t like the way they’ve gone and obscured that view with an ugly shoehorned steampunk banner. It certainly did more to me than Medusa. They can battle it out for number of car park spaces, but there was more snap and general interest to it.
Back to a speed of 3cph (Wallace: that’s creds per hour), things were starting to pick up again after that dry patch. Never mind that though, there’s 30 minutes left in the day. Another TC please.
10 minutes left. You know what? I’m gonna put the run back into cred run for the final time in 2018.
#12 New Revolution
Well that hurt. A fresh reminder of how unfit I am. The ride was quite cool at night. A discount Lisebergbanan is probably the nicest way to put it. Glad they sorted the trains out. Someone asked me what they had done to the Virtual Reality, seeming disappointed that it had gone. “I’m not the man to ask, but I can assure you that’s a good thing.”
Well even with that final burst, the park with the most rollercoasters in the world didn’t manage to beat a day in France for my most creds acquired (13). I’m still very mixed feelings about the place. So much limited availability and generally poor operations gave the day quite a rollercoaster of emotions. I got on everything that was physically available to me (bar the kiddie creds), so it felt like I had played my part properly at least.
Spited myself with the lack of coinage again from the previous day, having nothing with which to pay for a couple of hours on a meter along the road from this park. All day parking @ $10 will have to do. Can spend a while here right?
Wrong. Once again crowd prediction is a little off as it was hideously busy on a glorious sunny weekend. A sign was up listing the attractions available. I had 6 things on my to do list (3 creds and 3 dark rides). 1 of those 6 was open. Spent more on parking than I did on rides.
#1 Giant Dipper
Oh well, at least it’s the star attraction. It had a big queue so once was enough.
The starting tunnel was a laugh, not being able to see or knowing what to expect and the main portion of the ride was a bit of fun.
There’s always that unpredictability of roughness with these old rides, but there was no particular unpleasantness on this occasion except for the low part of the plastic bucket it had between the seats digging in a little on the high lateral corners. Blame the modern features.
There’s the beach.
There’s the sea.
Well that was quick. What else have we got?
Gilroy Gardens
More Cedar Fair season pass fun, although you don’t get free parking here, just entry.
Seemed busy in the car park, but the creds weren’t. Walked onto the first one that came into sight.
#2 Timber Twister
Tivoli Medium. Whatcha gonna do.
Powered over to the other side of the park for the bigger coaster.
#3 Quicksilver Express
Thought this was going to have a little more to it in terms of theming so was mildly excited. Instead there’s a mince through a shed at the end where nothing happened. There’s some good history about mining in the queue at least. First half of the ride was amusingly pointless, but then the second lift disappears over the top of that hill and there’s a surprisingly exhilarating drop to be found, followed by lots of twisty hills. Racking up that Morgan count.
Job done. Think that was even quicker than the Boardwalk. Seems like a nice place to spend the day if you’re a normal person.
Passed through this area on the way out, with a well timed sunset.
Settled in for another long drive back down ‘the 5’. In the dark. Wasn’t as bad thankfully. Tumbleweed sleeps at night.
Queued in the car instead by driving into the city to see a few sights.
Had enough coinage here for 14 minutes of parking. That’s my kinda sightseeing.
Close enough for Alcatraz.
This was rather nice too.
I like completion. There’s one of these I frequently visit in Singapore, not because I’m that way inclined, just because the food is surprisingly good. So I’ve now visited every establishment of theirs in the world, including 2 that closed down. Yay.
Talking of completion, memories of CGA were eating away at me all day. I had missed that cred and wasn’t satisfied with a single lap on the GCI. They were doing another 5pm to 10pm.
California’s Great America (Round 2)
So here we are again. Knew how to play it smart this time. Rope drop, straight in to Gold Striker, ahead of the masses.
It didn’t give me a headache this time and was marginally better. Satisfied.
Kept heading swiftly towards the back, but it would be rude to pass on this. RailBlazer was ridiculous as always.
#1 Woodstock Express
Beat those kids to Woodstock Express, never mind the squeeze into the car. It’s much more significant a ride than I imagined, thought it was going to be something like Zamperla 80STD #2. Has a bit of a jet coaster vibe with the layout and just look at that massive lift hill. Satisfied.
Pass.
Better off on Flight Deck instead. Doesn’t seem to hold the queues like the rest of the park.
I assume because it was a Saturday, everything else had got even more ridiculously busy than the previous visit after I had finished my first lap of the park, so I slithered out again very early on. A much more efficient run. Love this season pass flexibility.
First impressions of this place was laughing at the parking cost. $30?! Well thats my Six Flags season pass already paid off.
The views on the long walk around the outside of the park from the car park gave me slight Aussie Warner vibes with all those rides and superhero logos so visible from the outside, just in this case a little more… desolate.
Talking of season passes. After they were so helpful and keen over email to let me buy one remotely and claimed that they ‘had to print it on the day of purchase’, it was a bit of a shambles on the day. I asked for the place to go and collect it and got bounced between 4 different locations both outside and inside the park, each stating that they weren’t actually the right place and in the end they just printed another one. Such a stupidly good deal, even though I paid more than if I had just got it on the day. Risk.
Another rope drop scenario with a weird looking reindeer gyrating in front of some kids. Another power walk to an RMC. I was one of the guests first to arrive but got a big fat negative as my first inside impression of Six Flags. “This ride is currently only open to membership holders.” Spite.
#1 Superman Ultimate Flight
Superman it is then. I really struggled to enjoy my last Premier Sky Rocket as the shin bars dug into my shin bones so painfully hard that I’ve never wanted to get off a ride so quickly before it even started. This was fine, they didn’t touch my legs as much and they’re squidgy. Also this was the first one built so what’s your deal Holiday Park?
They’re quite fun. A triple launch is always a blast and the elements themselves are actually kinda cool. Just something about it… is it simply the lack of corners that makes it still feel a little inferior to an actual coaster layout? Or is it the prolific cloning of the ride? Once was enough anyway.
That weird Skywarp ride I wanted to judge was closed…
#2 Vertical Velocity
The Intamin Impulse caught me off guard. Never come across one before and I thought they all had vertical spikes at both ends. Guess not. That’s a plus. I also got myself overly worried about it from seeing it go once before me. From a distance, it looked like the front half of the train was hanging upside down for a good 10 seconds at the top of this angled spike, something I’d despise happening to me. When I was on it, it was the right way up, so that was clever.
It sucks though. Rattled quite badly throughout and 2 gimmicky rides in a row didn’t really help.
Joker was still off limits to normal people so headed out of the area to see what else was cooking.
#3 Roadrunner Express
Oh good, another Zamperla 80STD. Fun fact: some of these little rides are 20 years old now. +1.
Happened to walk past a Dolphin show just as it was starting, so gave it a go. It had some very cringey rhyming Christmas narration and dance remixes of Christmas songs. The dolphins were cool at least. Double backflip.
Leaving this was poorly timed as all the families spilled into the Cobra queue with us. Queued a stupid amount of time for it, but wanted to clear the path of creds for ‘that wooden one’ as other guests were calling it.
#4 Cobra
Tivoli large. Whatcha gonna do.
That dumb Larson Loop ride I wanted to judge was closed…
The SLC was also spiting. Shame.
They had broken Medusa, but were sending empty trains constantly. The staff guy wasn’t helpful in his advice. Camped it out for half an hour. Gave up.
#5 Joker
I can’t stands no more, RMC time. Queue looked reasonable, until it barely moved the whole time. Hang on, is this thing only on one train? Yes, yes it is. So reasonable turned into 90 minutes, made all the worse by the fact that they’d stopped me from walking straight onto it with no queue earlier.
It was really good. Didn’t blow me away with any particular sensations like the previous day, but a very solid ride with an interesting sequence of events. I particularly liked the double hump that catches you off guard in the back, ending more abruptly than a traditional hill and then throwing you into another before you can process it. The little stall element was a bit underwhelming unless you were further towards the middle of the train, but that’s Wildfire’s fault.
Medusa now had people on it, so back to the other side of the park. Queue was short, but had about 200 people in the station faffing, cos the staff weren’t bothering to batch.
#6 Medusa
Well this did absolutely nothing for me. The first drop is a dumb shape with that slight corner and doesn’t give you any surprise airtime like the Spanish one. The rest of it was just there, same old sequence of elements that is getting rather repetitive, with no interesting forces to speak of.
#7 Boomerang Coast to Coaster
“Just like a Boomerang, I’ll catch you guys later.” I smiled a little, but it quickly wore off when the ride began.
So this place has animals as well as rides. That’s new. Spent a while ticking them all off.
Each of the food groups represented.
Time to suffer another 90 minute queue. Look at that dormant 2nd train, mocking me.
And another 90 minute queue. So much awful queue. At least it made it get dark.
Hmm. Place started good bad but got rather fed up with it in the end. Not completely the parks fault though. Christmas obviously draws the crowds and that wasn’t helped by the limited lineup one train operation. Can‘t really complain as but it got me Railblazer Joker at this usually barren time of year.
It’s that question I find myself asking each year – where can I get some creds in January? I’ve managed 660 odd without disturbing the shores of America but now, the time is right.
Day 0 – Travel stuff
So here we are at LAX. Faffiest airport in the world? The border was nothing like the stories I always hear. No guns or being shouted at. But they’ve got those dumb DIY photo and fingerprint machines with no Japanese women to guide you. And then they don’t work. Then they want you to fill in the customs form. And then they don’t want to take it off you. “Wassup my man?” Now I’m in.
The phrase 9 terminals was thrown around on signs. I thought wow, that’s huge. But it isn’t. They aren’t separate entities like other airports, just a big U shape of smaller sections with a road running round it all. A gridlocked road. There’s no car hire on site, they’re all shuttled. The shuttle bus cant get to you because of the road. The shuttle bus cant get you out because of the road. It took a good couple of hours to leave.
Got to the car hire place and told to use the machines to avoid the queue. The machines don’t work. Queue it is. They’re a sleazy bunch here. I’d paid everything up front so was dead set on the bill being a swift 0. “This car you’ve booked, it’s a bit small.” I’m shown a picture of this.
“That’ll do.” “You won’t get any luggage in there.” “I’m sure I’ll manage.” “How far are you going?” “Quite far.” “I can upgrade you to a ‘medium sized car’ for 25 dollars a day.” “Sounds like a lot for 2 weeks, I’m good.” “It’s higher up.” “I’m good.” “It’s lower to the ground.” “I’m good.” “More comfortable.” “I’m good.” “The luggage won’t have to go on the seats.” “I’m sure I’ll manage.” Tshh-something about winter insurance and the ‘rainy season.’ “Right. I’m good.” “Tshh-here’s your papers. Follow the signs.”
Well this is new to me. I’m used to being given a key up front, but instead you get to stumble outside into the car park and find the section of ‘eligible cars’ for what you’ve booked. The keys are all in the cars, take your pick. My section was filled with 7 of what I’d call medium sized cars.
6 the same (4 white, 2 black), 1 different. Damn, the different one already has someone in it. The decision has been made for me then. Luggage in the boot. Away we go. Luckily I hadn’t planned anything for the day. Day 1 – California’s Great America
I had to hit the San Francisco area first as the parks there aren’t truly open year round, they just do Christmassy events until the end of December. CGA’s was an evening only job, from 5pm to 10pm, so that suited the 5 hour journey it took to get there.
It wasn’t a particularly pleasant journey up ‘the 5’, once you end up on dual carriageway and sat nav says 240 miles of go straight. The traffic was just heavy enough to never settle down and use cruise control with either endless slow lorry overtakes or too many people frothing in the outside lane resulting in constant undertakes by others. And then the tumbleweed. First time it was cute – aww, tumbleweed. It’s actually just plain dangerous. It may look soft from a distance but it’s half a car sized ball of nasty wood that you’d better not hit. Now it’s hours of constant traffic swerving and e-stopping every couple of minutes, twigs flying everywhere. Ugh.
Checked into the hotel that was conveniently 2 minutes from the park and headed in. Getting there for rope drop turned out to be rather essential. It ended up being way busier at a lot of places than I was expecting and the website I had used to plan around crowds for this trip was just completely wrong.
#1 RailBlazer
Chose to power walk straight to my first RMC Raptor and start the trip on a different high to the usual. I had often forgotten this thing was a thing and first impressions on seeing it in person is ‘what the hell is this thing?.’ I then said this to myself at least ten times watching it test, walking through the queue, getting on the ride, during the ride, getting off the ride and walking away from the ride.
From off-ride it looks like it’s running at a million miles an hour and it’s ridiculous to the point of laughter. Just doesn’t seem real.
I absolutely loved it. It’s rare that experiences are totally unique to me now and this was just so unlike anything else I had done. Why am I straddling the track? Why is it shuffling out of the station on wooden decking with the quality of a Hebei Zhongye Metallurgical Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd lift hill? Why am I shaking in anticipation?
I somehow only ever rode it in back row and the airtime when it hits is rather insane. You’ve got the first drop obviously, the crazy twisted hill which throws you in several directions at once, but in particular the sudden drop after it just starts doing unbanked turns in the middle (which I also love). Proper ‘I’m gonna fall out of this this ride’ ejector.
Picky points: It’s too short to compete with the best of the best. The cutback corner did absolutely nothing for me and the final couple of moments after that aren’t amazing.
Shoulder straps didn’t bother me in the slightest. It had good operations with that big TV screen in the station showing countdown timers and restraint lock status, perhaps desperately trying to make up for the poor capacity of the ride. Great stuff.
Headed backwards through the park now, which may not have been the smartest idea. Patriot was almost walk on, but then it broke down one train in front of me. Spite. Come back later.
#2 Gold Striker
The GCI now had a queue spilling outside the entrance. Well I’ve gotta get something done. Took about an hour from there.
This thing looks good from the outside. It feels well thought out as a layout with the big drop giving a thunderous roar that scares everyone in the early stages of the queueline, the not quite station fly through that goes past the bottom of the stairs with a thunderous roar that scares everyone in the late stages of the queueline and the big sexy curves of wood from the outside.
The ride itself? Eh. My first lap had a slightly off rattle that gave me a minor headache, but aside from that, GCI what’s going on?
They just don’t seem to do much of anything after Python changed the game. They’re all very forgettable in the middle of the pack and that’s the problem. I can’t think of a single standout moment on half of them, including this one. All I can remember thinking for this one is it’s all corners, where’s the unexpected sensations that give a ride of this type its character?
#3 Flight Deck
The invert struck me as another case of good placement. The zero-g slithering over the entrance isn’t exactly unique, but with little else in view it’s not just massive B&M in a field that happens to have that feature (sorry Pyrenees) and the meandering section working its way directly above the queueline. The queue sadly ends in weirdly out of place theming that was probably better off not being there – a couple of yellow barrels, the stars and stripes and what I assume is a scene from an aircraft carrier but could just as easily be a submarine, followed by an ugly undecorated, uncovered station. Another massive B&M in a field comes back to mind (sorry Monster).
Anyway, it’s good. The layout is refreshingly non standard after the standard drop and loop. The following upwards turn gives you the classic everyone shouting ‘ahhhh’ from positive Gs moment. The aforementioned weird but amusing mincing section over the queue. Then ‘what the hell is it doing?’ lurching down into a ridiculously snappy corkscrew with a brilliantly off transition and another decently sharp turn over the water, oh it’s over. Character and individuality is its strength.
#4 Patriot
More good placement. I like the way these bits of the other B&M stick out from the trees and then they frame it with plants and stuff below.
Patriot was back, but now a painfully slow queue with 1 train operations. It was a thing. Probably would have preferred to try the old stand-up version of the ride because the new floorless trains just make the overly simple layout feel a bit safe and uneventful.
Now things get ugly. Everything was getting stupidly busy. Queued 90 minutes for the stupid #5 Psycho Mouse which was just being run so awfully and was the beginning of my ongoing experience of this country not caring about filling empty seats on low capacity rides that felt like it wasted so much of my life. But hey, my first Arrow Mouse.
This had driven me to the point where I couldn’t be arsed to queue with a million families for the final cred that was open (Woodstock Express) and went back to RailBlazer instead to finish the day on another 90 minute queue.
Hmm. California’s Great America started good but I got rather fed up with it by the end of the night. Not completely the parks fault though. Christmas obviously draws the crowds and that wasn’t helped by the limited lineup they had on offer for the event. Can’t really complain as it allowed me to ride this magnificent specimen at this often barren time of year.
And here we are. Final bit of fun before the airport.
Day 12 – Six Flags America
Visually another place that blows Six Flags Great Adventure out of the water. Lets see what the fuss is about.
#1 Great Chase
Started strong on yet another Great Chase, yet another Zamperla 80STD. There had been a tornado overnight (we had just missed it on the last couple of days which was a shame as I wanted to add it to my extreme weather event collection), so the staff guy was nice enough to clean up the seats that were full of leaves before letting us on.
#2 Ragin’ Cajun
This ride is good for the name alone. People that hate on this park name it as one of the worst rollercoasters in the world, but it’s just a completely standard spinner. People are wrong.
Wild One was being spiteful, but the staff guy was amusing, standing under a deafening speaker playing mardi gras music and seeming physically terrified of anyone who came and asked about it. More on that later.
Spitebird was being spiteful of course, undergoing a refurb.
New for 2019. Toilets.
#3 Joker’s Jinx
Outdoor Flight of Fear wasn’t as disorientating, but seeing the tangled mess of supports whizzing by was quite a sight to behold.
Glad everything was walk on, queues looked grim. The ride closed for wind just after we got on it. Good.
#4 Superman – Ride of Steel
On to this hilarious piece of steel. I believe this is my last in the set of unique Intamin Mega/Hyper layouts and what a layout!
The sequence of events still makes me laugh now. It starts by presenting you with what a hill looks like. Then a glorious straight line and a giant helix. A giant, rattling, speed losing, pointless helix. Another glorious straight line. Another hill that does nothing. Another giant helix, this time in the upwards direction. It just leaves you sitting there watching what’s going on around you and not really ‘riding’ anything in the true sense, thinking what the hell were they thinking?
A couple of hills happen at the end of mild significance. Intamin at their finest.
Is this the one that had Virtual Reality? I can see how there wasn’t any real danger of losing headsets mid-ride.
Batwing was on staggered openings, so we went to Roar, which broke down in front of our face due to wind.
#5 Mind Eraser
Leaving us with the SLC. Looks pretty good for what it is. Rides alright. Middle of the road.
#6 Roar
Roar had then fixed itself. Like Hurler, it was interesting to ride something which resembled what RMC Joker used to be, spotting what they’d done with it, remembering better times. The ride itself? Meh. GCI again. Old style of trains made it a change of pace at least.
#7 Batwing
Back to Batwing. Longest queue of the day @ 10 minutes.
This thing fixed everything that was wrong with the original. The putting you on your back mechanism was smooth and sophisticated. They changed the shape of the final inversions so they dont physically assault you. They added a bonus helix! It only ran one train so you didn’t lie on the brakes at the end. Quite liked it to be honest. Solidified the experience as more forceful and interesting than Air.
This ride also closed for wind just after we got it. We’ve done well.
All that was left was Wild One. Went back to our guy to get the same old lack of information. Saw some activity over in the distance.
The reason it was closed was that the wind had blown down this stupid Snickers banner from the side of the ride. Entertained ourselves by watching them slowly climb around the supports and remove it. It took down a piece of wood with it, who knows whether it was structural or not. We didn’t care at this point. Just run the thing so we can ride it and leave. And they did.
Back over to our guy, still getting nervous and still not opening. Another man stuck his head out of the station and shouted down to him. “You can go on your lunch now.” “Is the ride open?” “No. You can go to lunch now.” Quote of the day – “Someone NEEDS to be here.”
Then he went to lunch. The very second he left, 50 guests turned up out of nowhere and instantly powered into the closed queue, fulfilling his prophecy that someone needed to be there. Still laughing, we followed them in.
The station staff showed no resistance at this point, sending the ride for another test with us standing there. Then it opened. Success.
#8 Wild One
Best ride in the park, not that it was hard to achieve. A decent enough older woodie with the right level of shake, rattle and roll, plus a bonus helix.
And that was that. Don’t see the problem with this place at all. The lineup is lacking by Six Flags standards of course, but the park itself is perfectly pleasant and a good little half day out.
Goodbye America.
Summary
New creds – 96 Total parks – 10 RMCs – 4 Miles travelled – 3200 Current savings on car parking costs – $401 Best coaster – Skyrush Best park – Dollywood Spites – 4/100 (4.0%)
