SFoG 7/28 (Metsman pwns ATL and rides Goliath, hilarity doesn't really ensue)

[Metsman.]

(ride reviews at the end)
 
My mom asked me a couple months back if I wanted to come with her to visit my Uncle who lives in Atlanta, and I accepted the invite knowing well that I planned to go to Six Flags over Georgia.
 
I awoke at 8:30 AM, and jumped in the pool to wake me up. I got dressed, had breakfast, then my uncle, mom and I left the house. It was the first time I had ever been in a convertible, and the wind helped me wake up even further. We got to the park at 10:00, they dropped me off at the drop off point (which is right at the front gate), and I headed in.
 
I had my ticket scanned (no SP this year  .), saw that Acrophobia was closed  (it's apparantly down for the season) and made a quick right to go the Flash Pass center. I knew I wanted to get a Gold Q-Bot (first Q-Bot experience). They made us watch this stupid video showing us how to use it, but fortunately it didn't last too long. After the video, they opened the door and let us walk into the registration room. I walked right up to a counter, threw down $50 and asked for a Gold. I got it, clipped it to my belt, and departed, ready for a great day.
 
I turned right out of the building to ride the Georgia Cyclone. I scanned the Q-Bot (even though it was unnecessary), and walked into the Fast Lane line, where there was nobody at all. I walked towards the back of the station, but ended up settling for a seat in the middle. It's a decent woodie, but it was rather rough, and left my back not feeling too well.
 
I turned left, and started to walk towards the USA section of the park to ride Goliath. It was a hell of a walk, but the Georgia Scorcher was on the way, so I scanned it, and walked right in, to the back row where the Fast Lane line lets you in to. The crew was rather slow and the stupid hicks didn't seem to understand the concept of standing up with your feet on the ground, so it took a while before I got on. In the back row I had a good ride. It was my third B&M hyper (Riddler and Mantis were the other two), and I feel that the other two are better than this one.
 
I was determined to get to Goliath so I continued to walk through the USA section till I reached it. The line was almost back to the overflow switchback at this point. I scanned my pass, and it gave me "10:49." I looked at my phone and it said that it was already 10:49, so mosied on through the Fast Lane line up into the station ,where it seemed that they only let enough people in to fill a train. The guy let me go to the back row (my favorite hyper seat), and I boarded soon after. They checked restraints, and dispatched. We went up the lift hill significantly faster than Nitro does, so needless to say, I was surprised to get to the top so quickly. The first drop is decent, but Nitro's blows it out of the water. The ride was gentle throughout, although the enormous helix and overbanked turn give OK forces. the drop over the water was a nice touch as well. Overall, I was a little disappointed because the airtime was just not as much as I expected. I liked Magnum better, and Goliath does not make my top 10 
 
After Goliath and headed into Gotham City to ride Mindbender and B:TR. Just looking at Mindbender's sign makes it so obvious that this was going to be a Riddler themed ride. The green motif, and the question marks everywhere kind of give it away, not to mention that there is a big Nygma thing on the side of the station. I scanned my pass, and it told me I could go on right then, so I did. I was seated almost immediately in the very comfortable train with just lapbars. I had semi-big expectations for this ride, because most enthusiasts rave about Mindbender and similar Swarzkopfs. When you get to the top of the lift, you stall out a little bit which surprised me. I really enjoyed the ride. The drops give good air, the loops are forceful, and the landscaping is great (love going over the waterfall thing). I got off, scanned it again, and got back on, having another good ride.
 
I went over to Batman, and scanned my pass. It gave me 9 minutes. I couldn't find the entrance for those with the pass, but eventually realized that it was inside a store, which is also the exit to the ride. I scanned it with 6 minutes left, and it told me I was too early. I waited another minute and tried again, this time it let me go. I realized that you could show up 5 minutes early, and it would let you on, knowledge that came in handy throughout the day. I had a normal B:TR ride, but I noticed a few things. Their station is so much better than ours. The Batman music is playing, and when a train leaves, smoke comes out, lights start flashing in the floor and the "Batman is leaving the Batcave" theme plays for a second. Also, they still have all of the theming in the queue that we don't have.
 
It was hot as hell at this point. I heard a ride op say 98 degrees  . I was hoping Deja Vu was open, but I hadn't seen a train run, but I figured I would walk that way and check anyway. As I was approaching, I saw a train in the station, and people walking into the queue, signaling that it was indeed open. I scanned my pass, and it gave me 8 minutes, so I had three minutes to kill, and I chose to sit down on a shady bench. The Q-bot started beeping telling me that my ride time was soon, so I walked into the Fast Lane line, and they immediately put me in line for the last row, where I sat when I rode Deja Vu at SFMM in 2004. The ride was good, a little bumpier than I remembered, but good nonetheless.

Not much of a cliffhanger, but more to come 

[sir clinksalot]

Nice TR so far.

We got confused on the Batman Q-bot entrance when we were there last year. Surprised you didn't like Scorcher, it's my favorite Stand-Up.

Looking forward to the rest.

[GADVwow]

Somebody agrees with me that Nitro is better than Goliath.

Great trip report!  I can't wait for the rest (but guess I will have to!)

[ChuckR]

Nice report man! I want to get down there, stinks that Acrophobia was closed.

[Metsman.]

I apologize for the lengthy delay...

Anyways, after I rode Deja Vu, I continued to walk along the lake or whatever it is, until I got to Ninja. I flashed my (p)ass, and it gave me 1 minute, so I just strolled on through the Flash Pass entrance until I got to the completely deserted station. I remembered seeing a picture in an Alvey TR in which Robb was sitting in the front seat of the back car (or something like that), and it said the pain wasnt so bad there, so that's where I opted to sit. Overall, the ride was no more or less painful than SFGAdv's GASM. The opening inversion(s) were bizarre, and the rest of the ride seemed rather boring. The fact that it's over water does give a nice effect however.

After I got off Ninja, I stayed on the lakeside, and went to GASM. I q-botted up, and it gave me 6 minutes. There was a sign above the thing that said "go through ride exit for Flash Pass line." It took me a few minutes of searching to find GASM's exit, but eventually located it, all the way down along the water front, past the DDD. I walked through, scanned up, but then realized that only one train was being run. For such a long ride, it's awful to be running one train. Anyway, I was on board in a couple of cycles. As the train went up the lift, I looked to the right and observed the ride's beautiful setting along the lake, and going over it at some points. I also noticed just how many hills there were which led me to believe that there would be significant airtime on this woodie. But you know what happens when you ass-u-me... There was hardly any air, even on the straight first drop. It's better than Rolling Thunder, but only because of it's length and setting. A half decent ride...

I kept walking to the east side of the park to ride Superman: Ultimate Flight. When I got there, I scanned the Q-Bot and it gave me four minutes so I strolled on through the queue until I got to the double station (only one of which was being utilized). I walked right into the fourth row line which only had three other people. A train rolled into the station, and I boarded. Restraints were checked, all clear, and the seats tilted up into flying position. Dispatch? No. We were stuck in the flying position (possibly the most uncomfortable thing that could happen to a male  ). The op made the "technical difficulties" announcement, and we continued to lie in that position. About 10 minutes later, we were dropped down, so the seats were in the original position. We were allowed to stay on the train while they fixed it for some reason... The mechanics gave them the all clear, and we pulled our restraints down again, they were checked again, and we were tilted back up into flying position. What do you think happened next? We got stuck again  . Fortunately it was only for about 2 minutes, and the train suddenly moved forward, and out of the station to much applause. We started up the lift, and I noticed that the beginning of the lift is actually a hill with stairs, which is pretty cool. We reached the top, and made the swooping drop (the breeze felt great) into the pretzel loop. As usual, I was shot back into my seat as we traveled through the enormous inversion, but this one felt more poweful than GAdv's for some reason. The rest of the ride was good, much better than ours' due to the landscaping that gave more of a sense of flight.

The computer room isn't air conditioned  , so it could take a little bit for this TR to get finished