Even though Sea World is expensive and doesn't have many discounts, we decided to go there since there were 2 new coasters added since our last visit. With our Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards card, we were able to get admission for around $40/each.
Since it was very hot and humid and the coaster operations were terrible, our stay was short. We just rode the coasters once each(except twice on Steel Eel) and saw 2 shows before leaving.
As with Kemah Boardwalk having the worst wooden coaster operations we've ever seen, the Steel Eel crew gets the award for worst steel coaster operations we've ever seen. It's a long walk back to Steel Eel and we never even saw it dispatch. We were thinking it was closed, but it turns out they were just dispatching a train every 15 minutes or so. They were too busy goofing off and socializing to be bothered with dispatching the train. Plus, for some reason, they check lap bars twice on that coaster which slows it down even more.
Shamu Express was new since our last visit.
The Texas Splashdown flume looked good, but the line was too long for our taste. I think we rode it on our previous visit though.
The "award" for worst steel coaster operations goes to....
We normally like the back seats on these type of coasters, but we much prefered the front seat on Steel Eel. The landings in the back seat are just too hard for our liking.
The Great White coaster:
The Shamu "I Believe" show:
The other new coaster since our last visit was Journey to Atlantis. I got a bit wet on my side since I was sitting on the end of the row, but nothing too drenching.
Since we left Sea World early, we decided to visit Six Flags Fiests Texas for the last hour or so that they were open. Lines were long so we decided on the single rider line for their new 2008 coaster, Goliath, which was running ONE train. This is the coaster where Flash Pass users get priority seating in the front and people waiting in line have slim to no chance of getting it. Single riders and Flash Pass use the same stairway. Single riders get put in any row of the train so as far as I'm concerned, there's no excuse to Flash Pass users being automatically put in the front row. The kid behind us in the single rider line was trying to meet up with his group in the regular line. The employee at the station entrance told Rich and I that we could ride together in the front on the next train if we let the kid in front of us join his group in the station. Long story short, we wound up riding together in the front seat.
With minutes to spare before park closing, we rushed over to Boomerang which was closed on our visit in 2001. We just made the front seat for the last train of the night. We couldn't believe it when everyone on the train started chanting "one more ride". On a freakin' Boomerang of all coasters to get a second ride on? Since we didn't want to be the only ones getting off, we went for the double ride. At least we got a good view of the Lone Star Spectacular laser light show as we were going up. My Boomerang quota for the year has definitely been fufilled!
Topic: PTR Sea World San Antonio 6/20/08 (Read 1500 times)