Great Adventure Outpost
Great Adventure Boards => Great Adventure Trip Reports and Meeting Plans => Topic started by: peterpjr on April 07, 2007, 11:05:44 AM
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Whos is planning on going?
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I am planning on going so if its not too cold, look for my GAI Hoodie. I should be going with Jerry.
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I wish I could. Easter dinner at our house means total chaos!
Have fun guys :)
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Anyone else? Hmm? Another Ka Marathon?
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I'm working at 4 pm to closing this night, if it were open in the morning, I'd be all over it...
What are the hours that day anyway?
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I wish I could. I was originally planning on going, but then my family said it would be too cold and we were invited at the last minute to a family easter party. I was looking forward on going, considering there is going to be no lines, so I'm a bit depressed. Anyway, have a great time.
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The hours are 1030 to 7. I will be there also. Most likely in navy bloue Pea Coat, winter hat.
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I'll be there then.
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Sounds like with the Cold air, season pass only and Easter it may be a ERT all you can ride day. ;D
I would love to go to get multi rides but with 6 brothers and sisters we do the Family thing. :'(
I know you guys will come back with stories of 7 KK rides 5 Toro rides etc.
Have fun , enjoy :D
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I am so there in the morning. Just hope it is not too cold to run the coasters.
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I am so there in the morning. Just hope it is not too cold to run the coasters.
Can it honestly be too cold to run the coasters?
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Actually yes, peterpjr, I was at the park on Friday, and they claimed that El Toro wasn't running because it was too cold! They explained that since the track has alot of oil, the cold weather causes too much friction to open the ride. They were doing test runs the entire day and said it should open around 7 that night. Unfortunately, I had to leave before then, so I don't know if it ever opened. It doesn't really make much sense to me because wouldn't it be colder at night?
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And when it is cold for a coaster to run, it can valley...which is a difficult thing to recover from.
Steel coasters often don't run when it is less than 40 degrees, as running them can greatly increase maintenance requirements.
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Thanks for the info.
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What do you mean by valley, GADVwow?
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Valley: end up in the valley between two hills as the train does not have enough momentum to get to the top of the next hill. Also called saddle.
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How could that be fixed if it ever happens?
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The train has to be winched back to the station...essentially pulled in with a cable.
On large wooden coasters, occasionally, the coaster will literally be taken apart, the train removed with a crane, and the deconstructed portion rebuilt. This was the usual procedure for Son of Beast in Cincinnati, for example. Needless to say, it is best that a coaster train not be sent out if there is a significant possibility that it will valley.
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Wow that's serious. Thanks for the info.
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I am so there in the morning. Just hope it is not too cold to run the coasters.
Can it honestly be too cold to run the coasters?
Yeah it can. The water starts to freeze on Ka when it shoots up to cool the cable.
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Just got back from Season Pass Day. It was NOT worth it. I had asked the lady running the Tea Cups what happened, and apparently the park temporarily lost power late in the morning, and everything was retesting, then the cold and wind kept things closed. For example, After riding RT and Medusa, I headed back to ET to see if it was open, and they were opening it. They ran one ride, then as the next train was turning the corner to go up, it stopped and they pulled it back, and after 15 minutes, I left. Not a good SFGA day.
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It was snowing out before here so I don't expect them to run Ka and Toro. That's why I will be there tomorrow to test out the new Chiller!
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Just got back from the park..
They tested Kingda Ka at park opening with the ride ops on it.
They said it was worse riding it in that cold this morning than riding it in the rain.
Due to the cold and wind it did not opened.
El Toro was running...not at opening though.
I was able squeeze out two rides on it before there was a power surge knocked the whol park out.
Every ride in the park then neede to be recertified!!
Which meant the water dummies need to ride El Toro before it opened again!!
I figured it was time to leave @ 2:00PM.
As I was walking out...Chiller Red tested!!
So I walked over to see what was up and they opened it up.
Now I hated the ride before...and now I don't quite hate it as much.
It is much easier on the body now.
Backwards seemed better on the humps than forwards.
Still not a ride I would wait in a line for.
The park was quite empty...and the park was doing the best with what they had.
Who ever thought I'd get a ride on El Toro in the SNOW on Easter!
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How were the lines today? Was there a long line for El Toro? How about the lines for Nitro and The Chiller?
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There were no lines for anything today.
Chiller trains wern't even full.
No line for El Toro out of the station.
Nitro...Want a train to yourself?
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I was able to rack up 10 total rides on Chiller within an hour before the park closed at 5 PM today. I also got 3 back row rerides on Nitro. And one ride on Toro. Kingda Ka did open today but only for a brief 30 minutes. Chiller is eh. Very dead today.
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My Trip Report
It was a great day today if you could stand the cold. I was bundled up good so it did not bother me. The park opened at 1030. I waited in line for Toro which was testing and finally opened around 111-1130( I was so excited when it opened that I did not look at my watch). It was only operating one train all day. The first train that out went fine. I was in the second train out and we got stuck at the base of the lift for about 20 minutes until the repositioned the train to go up the lift. Got off went back in line again. Met up with Ogolo and was able to get on within 10 minutes and got stuck again at the base. This time it was only about 10 minutes. They said because of the cold, the train had problems positioning correctly on the lift. I think once the ride was running and warmed up, the problem was solved.
As Ogolo pointed out in his post there was in issue with the power in the entire park which took most rides offline for about an hour. I think a lot of people left when this happened. (not that there was many to begin with).
Rode Medusa for five times in a row without having to get off.
Nitro did not open until around 1215. Was down until around 2 once the power went out. Once it was back up it was walk on all afternoon. You could stay on without getting off. I rode it 8 times in a row, got off and went back to Toro for three more rides. There was like a 10 minute wait at this point (330 PM). Finished the night on Nitro riding 9 more times in a row without getting off. Twice in the front row.
Chiller seemed to be down again for a bit in the afternoon but opened up again around 430 or so. I was on Nitro and that was just my observation from looking over.
They ended up closing the park at 5 instead of 7 because they said there was not enough people there to stay open. In fact they let a lot of the employees off early and they were riding the rides after 3.
Ka was down all day because of wind and cold.
Pro's
*Walk up on all rides except Toro all day and that was 10 minute wait max.
*Staff as always was very nice and pleasant
*Robin opened at various times throughout the day (although I did not get to ride)
*Pulled pork sandwich from Best of the West was delicious
*No Crowds, nice group of people at the park
*The grounds looked great, very clean
*Lots of Characters walking around the park
*Got to finally ride a coaster in the snow. Flurries on and off for a good part of the day
Cons
*The cold. Boy was it cold on the front seat of Nitro
*Ka was closed but that was the weather and not the park's fault.
*They closed the park early at 5 when it was advertised to be open until 7. The best part is when there is nobody there!
It was a great day and I would like to thank the management at Six Flags for doing Season's Pass only days. It is much appreciated and great benefit.
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Nitro...Want a train to yourself?
8) Thats freaking awesome.
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I was plannign on going, but I would have had to leave at 2:30 ish... if I was off today, I would have been there, but it's ok. Thanks for the report Peter... when's the next time anyone is planning on going up there? I'll be there in Thursday.
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I was plannign on going, but I would have had to leave at 2:30 ish... if I was off today, I would have been there, but it's ok. Thanks for the report Peter... when's the next time anyone is planning on going up there? I'll be there in Thursday.
I am planning on going again on Tuesday. I am back to work on Wed. after being off for almost two weeks so it will be a while before I go again. After Tues, I probably won't be back until Coasters After Dark in May.
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I read on one of the other sites that Ka opened for a short time on Sunday but I did not see it operating other than tests in the AM and never heard anyone talking about riding it.