SFA on Sunday, 4/30

[nitroblast]

Im going to be at SFA from 10 to 4 on sunday, PM if you are going to be there. I might not be able to break away because its on a band trip, but we are allowed to roam the park alone. Eh, this topic will also house my TR.

[ChuckR]

I hope you have a good time and they run multiple trains on there coasters and they don't break down. (Wow! Big run-on)

[nitroblast]

Let me just say first that I was surprised by this park. I have heard so much crap about SFA that I was disappointed when we were going there instead of GADV. That said, here's my review of SFA and its rides, from a perspective of a coaster fan visiting the park for a first time.

We got at the park exactly as it was about to open. Greeted by numerous costumed characters, we witnessed the opening ceremony. I received a complimentary 45th anniversary balloon. After a pre-recorded Star Spangled Banner, the park was officially opened. I was with my fellow band geeks, a fairly large group(Heather, Brittany, Katie, Tyler, Justin, and me), with no chaperone's. The first ride we hit up was the Zamperla Flying Carousel. First impressions were not good. After waiting about 7 minutes before the ride began(only one ride op), we rode the standard wave swinger. We got off the ride, accidentally let go of all of our balloons, and head towards Jokers Jinx. We were the first to arrive. Sadly, we found out after 10 minutes that there were difficulties with the ride, and we were advised to ride another ride, while receiving a line cut pass. We decided to go to Superman:Ride of Steel. Walk on for all except front row. Got into last car. Fast ride ops, but they were only running one train(which wasn't a problem with no one except bandies in the park). Problem was the ride op wasn't caring of me. The guy decided to tighten my bar way too tight. WAY TOO TIGHT. I'm no fatty, but that's a little too tight for a growing teenager. I could not experience the ride to its full effect. For the first time ever on a coaster, I had to try to protect myself. I avoided air time, knowing full well what was in store for me if i rose out of my seat. It was fine until the third to last hill. I injured myself in a bad place; a very bad place.

The ride was over, and I wanted to sit down for awhile. But, we stopped in the station, and the ride announcer made me very mad. He said, "We have a problem with the ride," in a serious tone. "We have to send you through again!" He immediately dispatched us, pissing me off. I hurt. And a re-ride without recovery was not my choice. I had another protective ride, and we got off. I waited five minutes to recover, and we were off to Batwing. This had a five minute line, i assume. The just opened the other side of the station when we got there, and we were the first to ride on the train. The switch track is fun to watch. We got on, laid down, and were off. Onto the left, I was shocked. A newly painted, disassembled ULTRATWISTER!
Batwing was pretty good, but i heard they removed some trees from last season. And when we flipped over to fly, I hurt myself in the same bad place. I will get injured some more on this trip, so keep reading. Fun ride, and I didn't get injured that badly.


PART 2-Rides and Lunch

After Batwing, we headed to the scrambler, the Cyclone. This ended up taking about a half hour out of our day. We waited for five minutes. We got on the ride, and did nothing for 5 minutes. We then took out a cell phone, and timed how long it would take to ride. 13 minutes and 47 seconds later, the ride began. Due to nobody on line, the ride lasted about 5 minutes. We went on the ride at 11:15, we got off at around 11:45. After regretting that, we headed to the Wild One. Absolutely no one in the station. We got in the front car. On the lift hill, I reached my arm out. I was not aware you could touch the sides of the track from the car. I got a giant splinter lodged into my middle finger. I wont blame that on the coaster; it was my own fault. We re-rode it 5 times without moving, and then we went to Tower of Doom, or what ever the hell it is called. No line, and the ride length is like 30 seconds. We rode this about 7 times, and then we ate lunch.

For lunch, we split up. I got a chicken fingers/fries basket for 8 bucks, and a free cup of ice water. The cup was huge. The food was actually pretty good, and pretty good portions. I would have eaten at papa johns, but 7 bucks for a slice is too much. After that, we had to meet up with the band at 1 in front of the theater.

PART 3-Nearing the end of my day

At around 1:30, we head to the carousel. WORST CAROUSEL EVER! First, they make you wear a belt. And then, it ends up being the slowest carousel ever. Worst ride of the day. We then go to the Great Race, the antique cars, and they end up being one of the best rides of the day. Being teenagers, we enjoyed pissing off the lady who has to watch over the track. This was accomplished by using the horn button on the car. AOOGA! AOOGA! A very loud one, also. We held this down. Due to magnets on the cars, you cant get within about 5 feet of the car in front of you. Using the magnets, we all slowed down, and the front four cars would not need to apply the gas. The fifth and last car did all the pushing, allowing us to use the horn even longer than the ride should have been. Pretty awesome.

We then headed over to the deserted Joker's Jinx. Got first row, and enjoyed the ride. Pretty good launch, but I felt the second half of the ride was lacking, Re-rode it in the back. From there, we went to Penguin's Blizzard Bay raft ride thingy. No line due to fast and efficient crews, and we got on immediately. Did not get wet. After the ride, we got into a 5 raft traffic jam. The shifts of the ride ops were changing! Now the ride ops were slow. We got stuck in the ride for about 10 minutes awaiting to leave. From there, we re-rode Batwing, and then Superman. After that, we went to Renegade Rapids. Only I got remotely wet( by remotely, I mean a few splashes of water, pretty much amounting to nothing). Tyler and Justin braved Mind Eraser, though I warned them. They came off nearly dead, falling down onto the benches we were waiting at. They complained about their head, but I told them that I warned them. We all got some free water from a nearby restaurant. Brittany, after hearing me bitc- that neither water ride got us wet, dumps her pretty much full water cup onto me. It was cold. This was nothing new; on this trip, she previously dumped 5 full water bottles on me. Unfortunately this would not be the last; I would be hit once more, when we arrived back to the school after the 7 hour trip from the park.

Knowing that we had to leave at 3:30 and it was 3, we wanted to hit up Superman and Batwing once more. Superman had no line, so I got in the last car there(i was pretty much dry, so I did not get the seat wet). Batwing had about a 10 minute wait from what I could judge, so we used our line cutting passes. We headed back, and I was impressed with the park. Fast crews for the coasters and OK rides. If anyone other than band geeks were there, I might have not enjoyed this park. I can not imagine what it must feel like on a day with a crowd.

From there, we rode 3 hours until we got to the first rest stop in Jersey. Ate dinner(barely alive. we were all wasted and sunburn), and then rode for 4 hours in Jersey. Only took so long because of traffic near my favorite exit 7A.

Fun trip. If any of you want to know what a group of thirty band geeks does on a weekend in Annapolis, Id gladly write a report of the entire trip.

[Bubba Z]

When you say freshly painted Ultra Twister, what color was it ? Blue and Green ?

What about Two Face and Roar were they open? Other than that great Trip Report. Sounds like a typical day at SFA with the slow ride-ops. Glad you had fun.

[nitroblast]

Actually, i believe Ultratwister was white and green.

I forgot to mention the part about Roar. I rode it, but it was horribly rough.]

Two Face was open, but it had quite a long line. I would say it had the only line in the park. We decided not to ride it.

[WadeJ]

Nice TR.  Its actually one of the more positive ones I've heard lately for SFA.

Hopefully UT finds a new home soon.  It will be scrap if they leave it there for too long.

Its really a shame that Roar East has the PTC's.  That ride really craves for the MF trains.

[nitroblast]

Roar! has some good head choppers, but it needs those trains. I would not have rode unless it was a walkon, anyways, mostly because of the negative response to the roughness.  

From Superman, you can see UT's trains nearby. I wasnt expecting to actually see everything. And by the way the track was displayed in the middle of a lot with no building to house it near, I am going to make a bold, and probably incorrect, statement. America will get it.

when we were in washington dc, the save Darfur protest was going on on the National Mall, and we got to see George Clooney. DC was packed with protesters. due to this, we were forced to walk about three more miles than nessasary to get to the white house.